Local residents look at the derailed train compartments following a train accident in Bin Qasim town, some 50 kilometers southwest of Karachi on September 17, 2012. PHOTO: AFP
QUETTA: At least six passengers were injured when the Lahore-bound Akber Bugti Express was targeted near Bolan’s Hirak area on Friday morning through a remote-controlled device. Two more such devices planted along the tracks were defused well in time.
According to the Balochistan police, unidentified men planted a remote-controlled explosive device next to the railway track near the Mach Station. The device exploded when the Lahore-bound train was going through the area.
The resulting explosion wounded six passengers and damaged the train’s compartment number nine.
The bomb site was cordoned off by the Balochistan Frontier Corps while rescue workers along with the Kachi’s deputy commissioner and Pakistan Railways officials arrived at the scene. The injured were shifted to the district hospital for treatment.
“The intensity of the blast scattered the glass from the windows everywhere and one of the train’s compartments was damaged,” said Railways officials, adding that there were two more devices set along the train tracks.
“There were three explosive devices planted along the tracks in total. But the remaining two were defused by the Bomb Disposal Squad before they could go off,” the police added.
Although no terror group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, Baloch separatists have been previously known to attack trains and other railway installations in the Bolan area.
The injured passengers were given the required treatment before they were discharged and sent to Lahore.
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