QUETTA, Feb 27: A pipeline supplying gas to parts of Sariab area was blown up in Quetta on Sunday night while Quetta’s rail link with the rest of the country was cut off when two tracks were blown up and two bogies and an engine of a passenger train derailed near Sibi following an explosion.

Following a blast which damaged the pipeline, gas supply to several areas was suspended. Police sources said that a two-foot portion of the pipeline had been blown up.

Our Staff Reporter adds from Karachi: A spokesman for the Sui Southern Gas Company said the explosion caused serious damage to the six-inch diameter pipeline.

SSGC emergency crew shut off the nearest valve assembly to stop the flow of gas and avoid any further damage. A team was dispatched to the site to repair the line.

Meanwhile, an explosion on the main railway line near Sibi on Monday derailed two bogies and an engine of a passenger train near Sibi following the explosion.

All passenger trains from Quetta for Punjab, Sindh and the NWFP were halted at different railway stations after the derailment of the engine and two bogies of the Lahore-bound Chiltan Express. Two trains, Karachi-bound Sindh Express and Jaffar Express, did not leave till late evening.

According to railway authorities, the Chiltan Express escaped a powerful blast on main railway line linking Quetta with the rest of the country when it was crossing Paneri and Osaypur areas. The bogies and engine derailed when driver applied emergency brakes after the blast had blown up a large portion of the track. Passengers and railway staff were not hurt because the derailed bogies did not overturn.

“Miscreants wanted to blow up passenger trains by planting a powerful bomb on the railway track near Osaypur area,” Chief Controller of Pakistan Railway Quetta Mohammad Mushtaq said, adding that the bomb exploded when the train was passing through that area.

Sources said that armed men on nearby hilltops started firing at the train when it reached the area. The driver reduced the speed of the train, but soon the explosion hit the line when the train was some 600 yards away. The derailment occurred when the driver applied emergency brakes.

After the incident, relief trains from Quetta and Sibi were sent to the area for repairing of track.

Meanwhile, a soldier of the Frontier Constabulary was killed and two others were injured when armed men attacked the force and railway staff in Tandori area in the Sibi-Harnai section. They had gone to repair a railway track that had been damaged in a blast early in the morning.