[3][4] The train was carrying 2,400 Hindu and Sikh refugees from the North West Frontier Province and taking them to India following their displacement due to the partition of India in August of the previous year.
[6] A train carrying a total 2,400 Hindu and Sikh refugees left Bannu in the NWFP on 10 January 1948,[7] and was moving towards India via Sargodha and Lyallpur.
[7] A clash occurred between the soldiers escorting the refugee train and Pathans present at the station.
After the escorting soldiers ran out of ammunition, a mob of a few thousand Muslim Pathans attacked the train and began killing the refugees and looting their belongings.
[2] The attack is said to have been premeditated, and it is believed that the train was deliberately diverted to Gujrat where armed Pathans were present.