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QUETTA, Jan 7: Rail traffic between Quetta and the rest of the country was affected after a railway bridge was damaged by a powerful explosion near Dera Murad Jamali late Sunday night.
According to police sources, a device placed under the railway track near a railway bridge at Pat-Feeder canal exploded, rocking the Dera Murad Jamali township.
"Railway line and the bridge were damaged in the blast," a senior police officer of Dera Murad Jamali said, adding that railway traffic on the main track had been suspended.
Railway authorities from Sukkur rushed to the place and work to repair the damaged portion of the track and bridge was started.
Quetta-bound passenger trains from Karachi, Lahore andRawalpindi were being stopped at the Jacobabad railway station.
Meanwhile, security forces have arrested five suspected militants from the Janat Ali area of the Kahan tehsil area.
They have been identified as Kamal Khan, Jada, Lalik, Noor Ali and Rahim. Wireless sets, sub-machineguns and hand-grenades were also recovered from them.
CRACKDOWN CONTINUES: Security forces on Sunday continued their crackdown on militant tribesmen and their alleged camps in various areas in Dera Bugti and Kohlu districts.
According to sources, security forces were targeting encampments that the militants had ‘re-established’ in some parts of Dera Bugti and Kahan areas.
They said that helicopters were also seen taking part in the operation. More troops were flown in for conducting search operations.
Officials said that the four militants who had been killed recently in the Sangsila area in Dera Bugti in fierce fighting were ‘important commanders’ of militants fighting against the armed forces. Sources identified three of them as Dur Mohammad, Nehal Khan Bugti and Gura Marhata.
Meanwhile, a spokesman of the Anjuman Ittehad Marri claimed that helicopter gunships were being used in the operation.
He said that while the operation had continued unabated for a week, the security forces had launched a big ‘push’ on Friday and Saturday in Sangsila and Ghori Nullah in Dera Bugti and in Nesaio, Jhambar, Janat Ali and Parkai areas in the Kahan tehsil.
