17 August 2004	Tuesday	30 Jamadi-us-Saani 1425

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NAWABSHAH, Aug 16: Two police officials and a journalist were seriously injured in two bomb explosions on the railway track near the Nawabshah railway station on Monday.

A bomb exploded on the railway line 1km away from the station's platform at about 8.15pm and damaged about 11 inches of the tracks. The Karakoram Express had crossed the spot about 15 minutes earlier.

Railway authorities immediately stopped a passenger train which was about to arrive at the station. As railway, police and district administration officials were inspecting the spot, another bomb exploded at 8.50pm, injuring Nawabshah Taluka Police Officer Gul Mohammad Phul, Constable Nasir and journalist Azizul Hassan Siddiqui.

The second explosion damaged about 1ft of the tracks. Police sources said a time bomb with about 1kg of explosives had been used. The injured were brought to the People's Medical College Hospital where Mr Nasir was said to be in a critical condition.

Railway traffic was suspended. Sources said handbills had been found near the blasts' sites in which an organization, the Sindh Liberation Front, had accepted responsibility for the attacks and said that those had been carried out in retaliation against the plans to construct the Kalabagh Dam and the Thal canal.