Bolan Mail attacked with remote controlled bomb

QUETTA:

A Karachi-Quetta bound train was attacked with a remote controlled device near Dera Murad Jamali, about 400 kilometer southeast of provincial capital, on Tuesday, derailing its five compartments and injuring its driver.

The rail traffic between Balochistan and rest of the country was disrupted soon after the blast.

Dera Murad Jamali police said unknown saboteurs planted an explosive device along the railway track in Lal Shah area of Dera Murad Jamali and detonated it through remote control when Bolan headed towards Quetta from Karachi.

As result, five compartments derailed and driver also sustained injuries. However, all the passengers remained unhurt in the attack.

“The driver had pushed emergency break when he saw a suspicious object fitted to the track, otherwise blast could have caused score of causalities”, a senior police official said quoting the injured driver.

“The six feet long portion of the track was blown up while 100 feet portion was partially damaged”, a railway official said and added that repairing has started.

“It would take about 24 hours. Two trains from Quetta station that had left for Rawalpindi and Karachi were called back as repair work will take hours”, a railway official said.

The Bolan Mail could not leave for Karachi due to the explosion.

The Baloch militants usually carry out attacks on railway tracks and other economic installation forces in Nasirabad Division bordered with Dera Bugti.

However, no group has so far claimed the responsibility for this attack. Local police are investigating the incident.

The incident had affected the scheduled journeys of hundreds of people to Karachi, Rawalpindi and Peshawar.

Pakistan Railway had announced that all the tickets of passengers will be refunded.

“We have been waiting here for an hour, and later, we were told that rail track was blown up and train could not leave until repair work is done,” said Amir Khan, a passenger along with other family members at Quetta railway station.

“We are waiting for the refund money so that we could leave for Karachi through other means of transportation but so far there was no official available to help us,” he added.