25 January 2005	Tuesday	14 Zilhaj 1425

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QUETTA, Jan 24: A powerful bomb blew up a railway bridge near Sibi, about 157 km from here, on Monday night. Five railways employees were injured in the incident when their trolley fell to the ground as a result of the blast.

District Police Officer of Sibi, Gul Khan Sasoli, told Dawn on telephone that unidentified people had placed explosive material under the bridge No.1, about three kilometres from Sibi, which exploded in the late hours of Monday.

The blast also caused damage to a three-feet-long section of railway track. Railway sources said that train service between Quetta and other parts of the country would remain suspended till the repair of the track.

The railway employees were injured when their trolley fell from five feet height to ground at the blast site. The injured were identified as Mehboob Khan (driver), Mohammad Irfan, Sheikh Aslam, Saleem and Jamil Ahmed.

ANOTHER BLAST: Earlier in the evening, a powerful blast in the ministerial block of the civil secretariat smashed windowpanes of several offices, but caused no casualties.

Unidentified people had planted the bomb beneath a bench in front of the health minister's office on the second floor of the ministerial block. There was no-one in the office at the time of the blast.

According to the bomb disposal squad, the device was a home-made bomb and was fitted with a timer. Meanwhile, the Balochistan Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the blast.

A man, who identified himself as the spokesman of the group, rang newspapers offices here and said the explosion was in reaction to the military action in Sui and Dera Bugti.

Home Secretary Aftab Ahmed Jamal told newsmen despite tight security arrangements terrorists succeeded in planting the subversive material in the ministerial block that smashed windowpanes of 12 offices and damaged a wall of the building.

He said that steps would be taken to strengthen security to check entry of anti-social elements in the secretariat and hoped that fresh measures would improve security.

About the Sui situation, the home secretary said that houses were searched in fenced areas of the locality and added that area people had voluntarily surrendered some Kalashnikovs and two rocket launchers. However, he said a complete list of weapons surrendered was not available.

He denied reports that the Sui police station had refused to register an FIR against the Frontier Corps and the Defence Service Guards, saying that no tribesman had asked the police to file a report.