Case registered: Rail traffic resumes 24 hours after deadly blast

Bomb disposal squad official confirms two kinds of explosives were packed in a fertiliser bag.

SUKKUR: Nearly 24 hours after the deadly blast in Jacobabad claimed six lives, rail traffic between Sindh and the Punjab resumed.

Traffic between the two provinces came to a halt at the Jacobabad-Dera Ghazi Khan intersection on Sunday when a Peshawar-bound Khushhal Khan Khattak Express was attacked some 15 kilometres away from Thull.

The Thull police have also registered an FIR of the case (25/2014) with anti-terrorism sections against unidentified men on the complaint of a railway employee, Muhammad Shabaan Lashari. The police have, however, yet to make arrests.

Survivors in treatment

The injured survivors of the blast were rushed to a taluka hospital in Thull and were then shifted to Civil Hospital, Jacobabad. Later, the ones who were in critical condition were taken to Chandka Medical College Hospital, Larkana.



But some of the survivors left behind felt that only those who could afford treatment in Larkana were shifted. “I am a poor woman and I can’t afford to go to Larkana,” said Gullan Khatoon, who fractured her leg in the attack. She was going to Rajanpur to see some relatives. Other survivors, including Muhammad Nawaz and Waris Lashari, have also stayed back.

A family from Kashmore were making their way to the Punjab to attend a wedding when tragedy struck. Muhammad Shabaan Malik and his son, Ali Hassan, died in the blast. His wife, Shahnaz, received head injuries and is under treatment in Larkana.

Khair Muhammad and his wife Baharan, Zahid, Maria, Muneer Malik, Rehmat Khatoon, Juma Malik and his wife Azmat Khatoon, Salma, Wazir Ahmed and his wife Guddi, Shazia and Amina are some of the victims who have been moved to Larkana.

Investigations

Shikarpur bomb disposal squad’s sub-inspector Irshad Soomro told The Express Tribune that two explosives - RDX and BWX - packed in fertilizer bag were used in the device. The RDX is so powerful that it melts iron instantly, while BWX sparks a fire, he explained.

Another bomb weighing 20 kilogrammes was also found and defused successfully, said Soomro. According to him, the team also found a remote-controlled device, which was used to detonate the explosive. Soomro added that the batteries on the remote are not available in Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 18^th, 2014.