Pakistani couple returns home with bodies of five children killed in India train bombing

~ Two bombs started a fire that tore through the train's carriages Feb. 18.

LAHORE, Pakistan -- The five small caskets were lined up head to foot at the border, each topped with a white wreath and scattered yellow flowers and holding the remains of a child killed in last week's train bombing in India.

The father of the five, Shaukat Ali, was only able to rescue his wife and their youngest -- a toddler. The couple returned Saturday with the remains of the others, ages 6 to 15, for a funeral attended by thousands.

"My heart has broken. Only I know how I faced this tragedy," said Ali, 40, after arriving in the border village of Wagha, on the outskirts of Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore.

The children were among 68 passengers killed when two bombs started a fire that tore through carriages on the Samjhauta Express, a Pakistan-India train link set up under a peace process between the South Asian rivals. Most of the victims in the Feb. 18 attack were Pakistani.

Funerals

In India, 23 unclaimed bodies were buried in a Muslim cemetery in the village of Mehrana, a few miles from the scene of Sunday's bombing.

The graves were demarcated so relatives could later exhume the bodies if they are identified through DNA, said Mohammed Shayin, the head of a religious trust in the northern state of Haryana, where the attack occurred.

In the industrial city of Faisalabad, thousands of residents and officials attended the funeral for Ali's five children. Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz called the father to express condolences and assured the family that the "perpetrators of this heinous crime would soon be brought to justice," his office said.

Lahore Mayor Mian Amir Mahmood said city officials would provide free medical treatment for Ali and his wife, both burned in the fire.

Although both countries have vowed not to allow the attack to disrupt their three-year-old peace process, Pakistan's Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has criticized New Delhi for not providing a complete list of Pakistani victims.

Officials in both countries have shied away from the accusations that have followed past attacks. But Friday, Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam said Pakistan must clamp down on Islamic militants and keep them from attacking India if peace efforts between the nuclear-armed rivals are to succeed.

Two suspects

Kalam did not specifically mention Sunday's bombings. Pakistan has insisted Islamic militants could not have taken part in the attack because most the victims were Muslims on their way back to Pakistan.

Most of the Pakistan-based militants are focused on fighting Indian rule in Kashmir, a predominantly Muslim Himalayan region split between majority Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan.

Indian police have released a sketch of two men suspected of involvement in Sunday's attack. The Indian Express newspaper said police were searching for a railway employee who may be linked to the blasts and resembled one of the two suspects.

Mobile phone records show the employee was in the area of the blasts Sunday night. Police have arrested his wife and recovered 50 bottles of a kerosene and diesel mixture from his house in Bikaner in the western state of Rajasthan, the paper said.