A week after the blasts on the Attari Special, investigations have revealed that as many as six bombs — and not four as believed till now — were planted in three coaches of the Samjhauta Express feeder train. The bombs were reportedly placed near the doors of each coach, effectively sealing any escape route.

While two bombs in one coach did not explode due to a “timing” error, four bombs went off in each of the other two coaches killing 68 people. Only 12 passengers of the two coaches survived.

Police recovered the two suitcase bombs that did not explode. While one was lying on the railway tracks, the other was found on the first berth next to the door.

Before it was detonated by the police, the first clear fingerprints were lifted from seals of the 14 plastic bottles found inside the suitcase. The Haryana Police have sent the fingerprints to other state police units and intelligence agencies.

“All the bombs were to go off at the same time — 12 midnight. But in the two bombs that did not explode, the timer was set at 12:00 instead of 00:00,” said SP Railways (Ambala) Bharti Arora, part of the SIT formed by Haryana Police to probe the blasts.

Dr R K Kaushal, assistant director of the Haryana Forensic Science Laboratory in Madhuban who is leading the investigations, said while some bottles contained kerosene, others had petrol or a mix of both. “The seals were probably put to cover any smell. It also helped the explosives to go off with maximum pressure,” he said.

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