Dimapur: Twenty-six people, including women and children, were killed and over a 100 injured in two powerful bomb blasts which rocked the railway station and a nearby market in quick succession in Dimapur today (Oct 2, 2004), in the first such acts of violence in recent times in Nagaland.

The first improvised explosive device occurred on the railway platform at 9:30 (IST) just prior to the scheduled arrival of the daily passenger service to Dimapur, running between Guwahati and Upper Assam, killing 12 persons and injuring 60 others.

The platform was crowded with people, including school children, waiting to board the train to Bokajan in Assam's Karbi Anglong district, when the bomb planted near the entrance detonated.

The explosion completely damaged the station master's office, reservation and enquiry counters and blew up the shed of the platform.

"There were limbs everywhere and the platform was splattered with blood all over," one of the injured said adding people ran crying in terror.

More or less simultaneously, the second blast occurred at the busy Hong Kong Market area of the town, killing 10 persons on the spot and injuring 40 others, the police said.

Four critically wounded persons died at the district civil hospital. All the injured were rushed to the district civil hospital, private nursing homes and Army hospitals in and around the town.

In Delhi, Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil briefed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about the situation and would be visiting Dimapur tomorrow.