GAUHATI, Oct 22: Suspected militants opened fire with automatic weapons at a moving train in India’s troubled northeast, killing one policeman and wounding five people, police said on Sunday.

The Arunachal Express was attacked Saturday night as it slowed down to stop at Khoirabari, a railroad station 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of Gauhati, the capital of Assam state, said Khanin Sharma, a local police officer.

“One railway police officer on duty on the train got hit and died, while three passengers and two policemen were wounded,” Sharma told The Associated Press.

The train skipped its scheduled halt at Khoirabari following the attack. It stopped at the next railroad station where doctors treated the injured, Sharma said.

The attackers fled after firing at the train. No one claimed responsibility.

Several separatist rebel groups, including the United Liberation Front of Asom and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland, have been fighting for decades for an independent homeland in north-eastern India.—AP