KARACHI/SANGHAR, Aug 6: While trains leaving Karachi are being searched by the bomb disposal squad and sniffer dogs, an improvised explosive device went off near the Tando Adam junction, some 200 kilometres from here, on Tuesday damaging one of the tracks of the main railway line.

No casualty was reported in the blast, which took place after Iftar between the outer signal of the Tando Adam junction and the Khudabad railway crossing.

Sources said that the repair work had been initiated and would be completed shortly.

A two-foot main railway track had been blown up due to the blast. The train traffic was temporarily suspended in order to repair the damaged track.

A railway spokesperson, Imtiaz Khan, told Dawn that the cracker went off on the Down track —from Lahore to Karachi — and only one train, Karakoram Express, was stopped at the Oderolal station, located some 15 kilometres from Tando Adam, as a precautionary step. The train was heading for Lahore from Karachi on the Up track and after necessary inspection of the tracks would be allowed to move.

Meanwhile, following the Monday bomb explosion in Shalimar Express, the railway police obtained the services of Pakistan Army for searching trains before they leave for upcountry destinations from Karachi.

Superintendent of Railway Police Kashif Shabbir said that the equipment of the railway’s bomb disposal squad was not in working condition and it did not have sniffer dogs.

He said that he approached the Corps V of the army and requested it to provide assistance in searching all trains leaving the city for upcountry.

He said that the army instantly sent a bomb disposal team and three sniffer dogs to assist the railways staffers.

The SP said that railways bomb disposal staffers led the team and they searched the trains in the washing area and later guarded the trains till these were brought back to the platform.

He said that all the trains, including the Eid Special, leaving the city from the cantonment station had been searched.

He said that similar exercise would be carried out during the next few days until the security situation improved.

Meanwhile, Railways Workers Union chief Manzoor Razi said that all railway stations were open and vulnerable to terrorist activities.

He demanded that foolproof security arrangements be made particularly for the Eid season to avoid any untoward incident.