Civilians targeted: Six killed as blast derails train in Jacobabad

At least six people – including four children – were killed and more than 35 injured when two coaches of the Peshawar-bound Khushhal Khan Khattak Express derailed after a bomb attack on Sunday. The high-intensity bomb was detonated on the tracks near a canal, 15 kilometres away from Thull town of Jacobabad district. The blast, which was heard all over Thull, left a five-foot crater in the ground.

“The bomb weighing around 20 kilogrammes was planted on the railway tracks,” said Sub Inspector Irshad Soomro of the Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS), Shikarpur.

The train driver, Wali Muhammad, added that the bomb went off around 1 pm under coach No 6 when the train was chugging past the Unar Wah canal. The train guard, Abdul Hakeem, who was sitting in coach No 7, was also critically injured, he added. Luckily, the driver and his assistant remained unhurt. “Had the blast taken place under the locomotive, it would have derailed all the coaches,” the driver added.

A heavy contingent of police, led by DSP Thull Asghar Ali Shah, cordoned off the bombsite as rescuers shifted the casualties to the Taluka Hospital Thull. At the hospital, Dr Lala Liaquat Pathan told The Express Tribune that most of the injured were women and children. As a surgeon was not available at the medical facility, the 10 critically wounded passengers were referred to the Jacobabad Civil Hospital.

The dead were identified as Ali Hassan, 10, his father Muhammad Shaban Malik, Muhammad Hassan, 6, Ghalib, 8, and Mehram Ali, 12. The fifth deceased has not been identified as yet.

Sub Inspector Soomro said it was a locally-made and remotely-triggered explosive device. His team scanned the track after the blast and found another 20kg bomb.

According to Pakistan Railways official Anjum Parvaiz, 800 metres of the track has been damaged. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Khushhal Khan Khattak Express was bombed in Rajanpur district of Punjab on January 17, killing three people and wounding 20. The same train was also targeted in August 2012 near Thull in which many people were injured.