Explosion hits Quetta-bound Bolan Mail in Pakistan's Balochistan; third attack on trains in 5 months

In March this year, the Baloch separatist group had laid siege to the Jaffar Express train with more than 400 passengers in Bolan area of Balochistan and held the passengers hostage. (File image)

In what was a third attack on trains in Pakistan since March this year, a coach of a Quetta-bound passenger train was damaged in an explosion on Thursday in Pak's Balochistan province.

Terming it as an act of 'terrorism', station master Murtaza Khan told reporters in Sibi, “Railway track between Bakhtiarabad and Damboli areas in Sibi district of the province was blown up with explosives, resulting in the Bolan Mail heading from Karachi to Quetta being hit.”

Informing that no passenger was harmed due to the explosion, railway officials said that coach No 7 of the train was “partially damaged” in the incident, adding that the train reached the Sibi railway station safely.

Train operations have been suspended in the area in the aftermath of the blast even as the security forces have cordoned off the site, and a railway technical team has been dispatched to the scene.

Train services will be resumed once the track has been cleared and declared safe, railway officials added.

Following the incident, the Jaffer Express that had started from Punjab was halted at Dera Murad Jamali, while an earlier day Jaffer Express nearer to Quetta was stopped at Sibi station, officials confirmed.

String of attacks on trains in Balochistan province

Over the past few years, Balochistan has seen a series of terror incidents where train tracks are blown up, targetting the province’s transport infrastructure.

In June, a powerful explosion of a remotely controlled explosive device fitted to rail tracks caused four bogies of the Jaffer Express to derail in Jacobabad in the province. No one was hurt in the incident.

Earlier, the Peshawar-bound Jaffar Express, travelling from Quetta to Peshawar and carrying 440 passengers, was hijacked near Balochistan’s Sibi area on March 11, resulting in the deaths of 21 passengers and four security personnel. “All 33 terrorists” were neutralised during the two-day clearance operation.

Train services between Quetta and the rest of the country were restored on March 27.

(With agency inputs)