QUETTA, Feb 25: Rail link between Quetta and the rest of the country remained cut for several hours as the main tracks were blown up in Dasht area on Sunday.

According to railway police four bombs had been planted to blow up the tracks but only one of them exploded, while three were defused by bomb disposal squad.

"A three-foot-long piece of the railway line was blown up and several wooden slippers damaged," a railway official told Dawn.

After the blast, all Quetta-bound passenger trains coming from Karachi, Lahore, Rawal-

pindi and Peshawar were stopped at Sibi, Mach and Kolpur railway stations.

The Lahore-bound Chiltan Express could not leave Quetta on schedule.

The railway traffic was restored after repair of the tracks.