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Parents attend funeral for 5 children

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," said Ali, 40.

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.

In India, 23 unclaimed bodies were buried in a Muslim cemetery in Mehrana, a few miles from the scene of the Feb. 18 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.

Indian police have released a sketch of two men suspected of involvement in the 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.

[Last modified February 25, 2007, 01:13:40]