Bomb blast damages railway track near Thull

The bomb went off as soon as Peshawar-bound Khushal Khan Khatak Express passed from the spot of the blast

The bomb went off as soon as Peshawar-bound Khushal Khan Khatak Express passed from the spot of the blast. PHOTO: EXPRESS/FILE

SUKKUR:


A considerable portion of the railway tracks were destroyed when a huge explosion took place near Thull, Jacobabad, on Thursday noon.



More than three feet of the tracks were blown off. The bomb went off as soon as Peshawar-bound Khushal Khan Khatak Express passed from the spot of the blast.

As a result, rail traffic on the tracks was suspended. Bomb disposal squad (BDS) experts from Larkana rushed to the scene and inspected the site of the blast. BDS sub-inspector Badaruddin Shaikh told The Express Tribune that a bomb weighing seven to eight pounds was planted at the railway tracks that was triggered through a remote-controlled device.

The bomb was so powerful that besides blowing up a considerable portion of the tracks, it caused extensive damage to more than 30 feet of the track while a four-foot-deep pit developed at the site of the blast, he said. He added that the BDS experts have found a device with four batteries and three feet of wire from the site. Repairs of the tracks are underway.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 30th, 2015.