QUETTA, Oct 3: A railway engine driver was killed and two other staff members injured seriously in a rocket attack on a pilot engine on the Quetta-Sibi section, some 130km east of here in the early hours of Friday.
“It was a pilot engine sent to clear the section for safe passage of trains,” the railways controller, Quetta, told this correspondent.
Sources said the engine was sent from Mach to clear the track for safe passage of Quetta-bound trains coming from Sindh, Punjab and the NWFP.
When it was between the Kanri and Panir railway stations, unknown people suddenly fired a rocket at it and opened indiscriminate fire with automatic weapons.
The driver, Mohammad Azam, was killed and Fireman Abdul Latif and Sepoy Abdul Ghani of the railway police were injured seriously. The assailants escaped.
After the attack, the engine overshot the next station and stopped at Mushkaf after developing a fault, Sibi Station Master Naffis Ahmed said.
The personnel of law enforcement agencies and administration officials took the victims to the Sibi Civil Hospital.
Doctors said the deceased driver had received splinters of rocket and bullet injuries.
Train service on the section was suspended temporarily and the Quetta-bound trains were stopped at the Sibi station. The trains, including Bolan Mail, Jaffar Express and Zarghoon Express, were allowed to continue their journey after the clearance of the track.
The law enforcement forces have launched a search operation in the area.
