GODHRA, India — An Indian railway official said 56 people died Wednesday when unidentified men set fire to a train carrying Hindu activists from the controversial site of a razed mosque, according to a wire service.
A senior official from the railway protection force told Reuters at least 50 bodies had been pulled off the train after the incident at Godhra, in western India.
Police and firemen could be still be seen at the railway station pulling bodies, charred beyond recognition, out of the carriage which was set on fire. The rest of the train was allowed to continue on its journey.
It was carrying Hindu activists returning from the northern town of Ayodhya where hard-line Hindus are gathering ahead of plans to build a temple on the site of the razed mosque, in defiance of a court order.