QUETTA, March 3: Saboteurs blew up a railway line between Nushki and Ahmedwal, which links Quetta with the Iranian border town of Zahidan, and fired rockets on a PTCL microwave tower in the early hours of Thursday.

Reports reaching here said that an explosive device had been planted on the railway line in Chaghai district. The explosion damaged the railway track.

"About three feet of the track were blown up by the powerful blast," officials of the railway control office here told Dawn. However, train service on this line had not been affected as the department operated only a weekly service on this section, they added.

Soon after the blast, railway engineers and other staff rushed to the place and began repairing the line. "We have replaced the damaged part," one railway official said.

The attack on the microwave tower in Ahmedwal damaged transmission line, disrupting telephone service in many parts of Chaghai district. "We are trying to restore the telephone system in the area," a PTCL official said.