Stopped in its tracks: Locomotive engine, five coaches derailed in blast

10 passengers received minor injuries.

SUKKUR:

The locomotive and five coaches of the Peshawar-bound Khushal Khan Khattak Express were derailed and at least 10 passengers were injured in a railway track explosion near Kandhkot on Tuesday afternoon. Most of the injuries were minor.

The Khushal Khan Khattak Express had left Karachi for Peshawar. The explosion took place when the train reached Tangwani, Kandhkot.

A heavy contingent of police and Rangers cordoned off the area and the police arrested a suspect near the blast site. He was taken to an undisclosed place for interrogation.

According to witnesses, the blast took place as soon as the train reached the station.

The SPO Kandhkot, Omar Farooq, said the bomb was locally made and it was remote-controlled. Some of the passengers were injured as they jumped out of the train, he said.

The Sukkur railway divisional superintendent, Roshan Ali Mangi, talking to The Express Tribune said no casualty has been reported.  He said rail traffic will resume as soon as the repair work is completed.

Bomb Disposal Squad Larkana sub-inspector Badaruddin Shaikh told The Express Tribune that the bomb weighed about 15 lbs. He said 266 feet of the railway track has been damaged and a four-foot deep crater. The squad also found a fuse which was handed over to the Dera Sarki police station.

No group has come forward to claim responsibility as yet.

Low-intensity blasts have taken place on railway tracks across the province by Sindhi nationalist parties, namely the Sindhu Desh Liberation Army. Usually, a pamphlet or a note is left on the tracks by the group that claims to be behind the blast.

Between January 1 and February 15, 16 such explosions had taken place. Ten such blasts had rocked the province, one after the other, on February 11. No casualties were reported.



Published in The Express Tribune, June 1^st, 2011.