Blast damages rail tracks for third day running

The explosion comes a day after a similar bomb exploded on the railway tracks in Hyderabad.

NAWABSHAH:

A low-intensity bomb exploded at railway tracks near Nawabshah, just minutes after a cargo train carrying oil had passed. Another bomb was defused by the bomb disposal squad (BDS).

The explosion damaged just one foot of the uptrack but railway traffic was suspended for three hours. The other bomb was planted at the downtrack at the same site, said police officials.

“Luckily the bomb exploded after the train passed so further damage was averted,” they added.

Security officials see the blast as a sequel to Monday and Tuesday’s attacks. Two days ago, four bombs planted at the Guddu railway tracks passing through Sehrish Nagar went off. On Tuesday, a low-intensity, homemade bomb exploded at the tracks near the Detha Station, around six kilometres east of Hyderabad. Another bomb planted nearby was found and safely defused by the BDS.

Following the blast on Wednesday, authorities stopped four trains at separate stations. Passengers in the Lal Shahbaz Qalandar Express, Khyber Mail, Bolan Express and Tezgam Express had to wait for around three hours before the Pakistan Railway’s engineering department cleared the track.

The SHO railway Nawabshah region, Habibullah Khattak, said that following the earlier attacks, patrolling along a 300-kilometre long track, which fell in his jurisdiction, had been increased. There is, however, a shortage of mobile units and motorcycles and this made it impossible for police personnel to patrol along the whole length of the track, which ranges from Shahdadpur to Bhandi railway stations, he said.

The Sindh Desh Liberation Army (SDLA) has claimed responsibility through a press release, sent to newspapers and wire agencies. The Sindhi nationalist organisation’s purported chief commander, Darya Khan, has threatened that the will continue to carry out such attacks till they get their ‘right to liberation’ recognised by the United Nations. SDLA pamphlets had been found from the bomb site on Wednesday as well.

According to bomb disposal officials, both bombs were locally made and their combined weight was one pound. A case has been registered against unidentified persons and further investigation is under way, said the police.

The IG Sindh has ordered stricter patrolling of railway tracks. According to Hyderabad DPO Muneer Ahmed Shaikh, the police had been receiving warnings of explosions for the past year. After Monday’s blasts, Shaikh had constituted an inquiry team, comprising SP City Sahibzada Bilal Umer and SP Investigations Hyderabad Ghulam Nabi Keerio, to investigate the attacks and submit a report. Sindh Home Minister Zulfiqar Mirza had also demanded a report from the RPO Hyderabad, urging them to arrest the perpetrators.

With additional input from Online.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 4th, 2010.