QUETTA, March 18: Train service between Quetta and the rest of the country was suspended on Sunday morning after railway tracks were blown up near Spizend, some 30km from here.

Railway authorities confirmed the incident and said that an explosive device under the track blew up early in the morning, causing suspension of train services on the main line.

"A two-foot portion of the track was blown up in the powerful blast," a railway official said, adding that up and down railway traffic had been badly affected.

However, railway engineers started replacing the damaged tracks and were able to restore railway traffic at around 10 am.

The Railway police have registered a case.

A gas pipeline in the Pir Koh gas field area was also blown up on Sunday, causing suspension in supply to the main purification plant.

"It was a 16-inch-diameter pipeline which supplied gas to the plant from well No 40 of the Pir Koh gas field," security officials in Sui said.

They said that the pipeline had been blown up by a blast which caused a five-foot-long hole in the pipeline.

Oil and Gas Development Corporation (OGDC) personnel rushed to the site and started repairing it. They said that gas supply would be restored by Monday morning.