Disaster averted: Police defuse bomb near railway track

Unknown assailants plant three-kilogramme IED near railway track in Makrani Parah.

HYDERABAD:

The Makki Shah Police have registered an FIR against unknown miscreants who allegedly planted a three-kilogramme Improvised Explosive Device (IED) near the railway track in Makrani Parah on Sunday.

According to the Makki Shah SHO Javed Sheikh, the IED was found by residents of the vicinity near the track.

Upon receiving information, police and Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) officials rushed to the site and defused the bomb which was reportedly connected with a battery and wires.

BDS in-charge, Saleem Vistro, told The Express Tribune that the explosive material weighed about three kilogrammes. “It could have potentially damaged four to five feet of the track if it had exploded,” he said.

Similar attacks on railway tracks and power pylons have been earlier claimed by the Sindhu Desh Liberation Army in the past. They used to throw the organization’s leaflets near the site but no such leaflet was found this time.

The situation caused a disruption in the railway traffic as the Karachi-bound Zakria Express was stopped at Hyderabad railway station while some other trains were held up at the Kotri railway station for about two hours.

SHO Javed Sheikh said that the police conducted raids in Makrani Parah and its surrounding areas but no arrests were made.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 17^th, 2013.