QUETTA: At least seven people, including two personnel of the Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS), were killed and over 20 others injured when two explosions caused by bombs planted on a railway track ripped through two bogies of the Rawalpindi-bound Jaffar Express near the Aab-i-Gum area in Bolan district on Friday.

The banned Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the blasts.

The train service between Quetta and other parts of the country was suspended after the blasts rocked the area.

According to Railway officials, Jaffar Express left for Rawalpindi after a brief stay at the Mach railway station. When the train reached Aab-i-Gum, about 70km from Quetta, a bomb placed on the track exploded, blowing up the economy class’s bogie No 3. Three passengers were killed on the spot and 16 others injured, including three women.

Banned Baloch Liberation Army claims responsibility

“The driver stopped the train after the blast,” a senior security official told Dawn, adding that when the passengers came out of the train another blast occurred under the bogie No 9, injuring eight others. It happened 20 minutes after the first blast.

Most casualties were caused by the first blast. “A big portion of the bogie No 3 was blown up,” a senior Railway official told Dawn, adding that in the second blast only a few people were injured as most of the passengers had left the bogie before the second blast.

“Both blasts took place on the track,” he said.

However, some other officials claimed that the first blast occurred inside the bogie No 3.

The railway officials said that a sizeable portion of the track was destroyed. “We repaired the affected track in two hours after the incident and restored traffic. Jaffar Express also resumed its journey.”

Soon after the blasts, personnel of the Frontier Corps, Balochistan Constabulary and Levies rushed to the site and shifted the injured to the Mach district hospital, where three of them succumbed to their injuries. The condition of at least five of the injured is stated to be serious.

Rescue operation

FC Inspector General Maj Gen Sher Afgan reached the incident site and supervised the rescue work.

An FC helicopter shifted 10 injured, including a woman, to the Combined Military Hospital in Quetta. The other injured were taken to the CMH by ambulances.

The two BDS head constables killed in the blast were going to Dera Murad Jamali to perform their duty during Muharram, a spokesman for the Balochistan government said.

According to sources, three people killed in the blast were illegal immigrants belonging to Punjab. They had been arrested by Iranian border authorities and deported a few days ago.

The BDS personnel collected evidence from the blasts site. According to them, about 10kg of explosives were used in the two blasts — 6kg in the first and 4kg in the second.

Law enforcement agencies started investigation into the incident.

BLA spokesman Sangat Baloch told a foreign news agency on phone from an unspecified place that his organisation had carried out the blasts.

Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafiq, while talking to journalists in Islamabad, said Railways would pay Rs1 million each to heirs of the passengers killed in the incident and Rs300,000 each to the injured. He strongly condemned the bomb blasts and said the killing of innocent passengers was an inhuman act.

The minister disclosed that security forces had foiled an attempt to target passenger trains, defusing a bomb planted in a railway track near the Spizand area, about 30km from Quetta.

Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri condemned the attack and directed the provincial police chief to launch an investigation into the blasts and submit a report. He also directed the authorities concerned to take all possible steps to arrest the elements involved in this inhuman act.

The chief mister asked the chief secretary to submit a report on the incident within 24 hours and install cameras at all railway stations and bus stops.

Published in Dawn October 8th, 2016