Explosions on the tracks: IED damages railway tracks in Nawabshah

SUKKUR/ HYDERABAD:

A low-intensity improvised explosive device (IED) blew up part of the railway tracks in Nawabshah on Wednesday. Meanwhile, a cracker exploded on the tracks in Hyderabad while the police caught a man trying to plant a bomb on the tracks near Malir in Kandhkot district.

A one-foot tract of the railway tracks near Talpur railway crossing in Nawabshah was blown up by an IED. It took railways workers over two hours to restore the traffic. According to the bomb disposal squad, the IED weighed less than a kilogramme. The attack bears the hallmarks of similar attacks attributed to a banned nationalist outfit in the past. A cracker, thrown on the tracks near Hussainabad in Hyderabad, briefly disrupted railway traffic. However, since the iron tracks were not damaged, trains soon resumed their normal service. The FIRs for the two blasts have yet to be registered.

Caught red-handed

The Kandhkot police caught a man planting a bomb on the railway track near Malir within C-Section police limits on Wednesday.

The police were on routine patrol when they spotted a man trying to plant a device on the track. They arrested the suspect, identified as Amanatullah Jakhrani, and seized 500 grammes of explosive material with a fuse and detonator from him. C-Section police head constable Ali Sher Waseer confirmed the arrest, adding that a case had been registered against Jakhrani.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 28^th, 2015.