Lucknow, Feb 26 (IANS) For one long hour, five armed men assaulted passengers in two coaches of a train in Uttar Pradesh's Sultanpur district Friday and looted cash and valuables worth Rs.3 lakh, police said.

The Varanasi-bound Kashi Vishwanath Express had neared the Talakhajuri station, some 150 km from Lucknow, when five masked men surprised men and women in an air-conditioned coach and a sleeper coach.

Passengers who resisted were assaulted, leaving many of them injured.

'The looting continued for nearly one hour,' Government Railway Police inspector S.K. Singh told reporters. 'After looting the passengers, the men escaped.'

A case has been registered against the five men.

In the first week of February, eight armed men looted cash and valuables worth Rs.3 lakh from passengers on the Jan Nayak Express in Bijnor, 400 km from Lucknow.