QUETTA: Four women among 15 people suffered injuries when a bomb blast derailed a Peshawar-bound train in Bolan district on Friday in an attack claimed by the banned Baloch Liberation Army.

Officials said the explosi­­on that derailed eight coa­c­hes of Jaffar Express along with its locomotive and damaged a portion of the main railway track linking Quetta with the rest of the country was carried out by a remote-controlled device.

Railway officials while confirming the bombing on the main track said the train that departed from Mach, a town famous for coalmines, was in Bolan district area of Balochistan, some 110km north-east of the provincial capital, when the explosion ripped through the coaches.

Deputy Commissioner Samiullah Agha said, “Peshawar-bound Jaffar Express left for its destination from Mach station and when it reached between Peshi and Paneer stations, a powerful blast took place at the railway line resulting in the derailment of eight passenger coaches and locomotive.” He added that 15 passengers, including four women, were shif­ted to Civil Hospital, Sibi.

The Levies personnel and police rushed to the site and cordoned off the area following the attack.

“The blast took place under the fifth coach of the train,” Bolan SSP Meh­m­o­­od Khan Notezai told Dawn over the phone. He added that an Impro­vised Explo­sive Device (IED) was used in the blast, which was carri­­ed out with a remote control.

Medical Superinten­dent Dr Rafiq Mastoi said the hospital received 15 inju­red. Two of them were later shifted to CMH, Sibi, as their condition was serious, he added.

Officials of Pakistan Railways, including DS Quetta, also visited the site after receiving information about the attack.

A relief team of railways was dispatched to the site to rescue other families and help them reach their destination.

Among the injured, 13 passengers were identified as Afshan Qaiser, Ms Am­­n­ah, Hina Qamar, Shakeela Arif, Sanwal Khan, Abdul Bari, Jumma Gul, Mumtaz Bibi, Ghulam Sarwar, Sule­man Jaffri, Railway police constable Ghulam Rasool, Ehsan-ul-Haq and Jahan­zeb Khan. However,

two injured passengers remained unidentified.

According to offici­a­­ls, Balochistan has once again been cut off with other pro­vinces. Train service for the province had earlier remai­ned suspen­ded for four mo­­nths after monsoon floods washed away a railway bri­dge over the Bolan River, near Hirak railway station, last year. The bridge was still under construction and authorities expected work to be completed by June 2023.

However, the latest incident once again cut off Balochistan from the rest of the country.

Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2023