ISLAMABAD: Seven people were injured and four coaches of the Quetta-bound Jaffar Express passenger train derailed after an improvised explosive device (IED) went off in the southern Sindh province, police said on Tuesday.
The incident happened near Sultan Kot Railway Station in Shikarpur district as the train was traveling from Peshawar to Quetta.
The bomb disposal squad assessed that around five pounds of explosives were used in the IED blast, according to a senior police official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“At least seven people were injured, one of them seriously, when four bogies overturned as a result of a blast near Sultan Kot Railway Station this morning,” he told Arab News over the phone.
“The injured were moved to a hospital for treatment.”
So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Sindh Home Minister Zia-ul-Hassan Lanjar directed the police to begin an investigation and submit a report immediately.
“Terrorists involved in damaging the railway track will soon be brought to justice,” he said. “We will reach the culprits through concrete evidence and a thorough investigation.”
Earlier this year in March, the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), a separatist militant group, hijacked the Jaffar Express with about 400 passengers on board. The hijacking in the rugged Bolan mountain range ended after an hours-long military operation that killed 33 militants, while 23 soldiers, three railway staff and five passengers also lost their lives.
Last month, an IED blast derailed five coaches of the same train in Balochistan’s Mastung district. A similar attack also targeted the passenger train in August Quetta’s Spezand Railway Station.
Balochistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, has long been the center of an insurgency waged by Baloch separatist groups who frequently target government officials and foreigners.
The separatists accuse the central government of exploiting the province’s natural resources to fund development elsewhere in the country. Islamabad denies the allegation, saying it is working to improve livelihoods and promote development in Balochistan.
