3 feet of railway tracks destroyed in blast

SUKKUR: Railway tracks between Baigmanji station near Sukkur and the Rohri railway station were blown up with a handmade bomb on Wednesday. Police said that three feet of tracks were damaged.

The bomb, which was packed with 10 pounds of explosives, went off a few minutes after the Allama Iqbal Express had left the station for Karachi.

A day earlier the Sindhi separatists had tried to blow up a track near the Hyderabad station.

The paramilitary Rangers cordoned off the area and initiated a search with the help of the Bomb Disposal Squad. The district administration, railway authorities and law-enforcement agencies also reached the scene of the crime.

Repairs took three hours, after which one part of the tracks was cleared for traffic with the approval of the Bomb Disposal Squad.

The Karakoram Express and Tezgaam Express, that were standing at Rohri, as well as the Fareed Express waiting at Panu Aqil, were allowed to proceed towards Karachi.

Railways SSP Muzaffar Hussain said that the bomb had been planted early morning. No casualties were reported.

WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM ONLINE

Published in The Express Tribune, July 15th, 2010.