DADU, Sept 6: Eight dynamite explosions damaged two towers of 500kv power transmission line near the Talti village in the Bhan Saeedabad area between Sehwan and Dadu on Sunday night.

The explosions occurred at the tower No 58 of Jamshoro-Dadu circuit-I and 378 of circuit-II of the high transmission power line. As a result four legs of each tower were damaged but they did not collapse.

The blasts led to aerial firing by frightened residents of nearby villages, which lasted for two hours. Some villagers informed police after which DPO of Dadu Javed Alam Odho, Hesco engineer Mohammad Ayaz Memon, DCO Alam Din Bullo and officials of law-enforcment agencies arrived at the place.

Police cordoned off the area and collected parts of shrapnel of dynamite. Hesco official Nazeer Hussain Janwari informed the Bhan Saeedabad police that they had received a pamphlet in Sindhi, attributed to chief commander of the Sindh National Liberation Movement, Ghulam Hussain Chandio, and claiming responsibility for the blasts.

On his complaint, police registered an FIR under section 7/D of the Anti-Terrorism Act and section 3 of the Explosive Substance Act against unidentified terrorists. Terming the blasts a terrorist act, DPO Odho told journalists that evidence suggested that two terrorists had fled on a motorcycle after the explosions. He added that police were following the terrorists through their foot prints.

He said that police were conducting raids but no suspect had been arrested. He said that the police of Karachi, Hyderabad and Dadu were jointly investigating the case and hoped that terrorists would be arrested 'within 24 hours.'

He said that a seven-member investigation team of the Dadu police had also been constituted. He confirmed that police had found a pamphlet in which Chandio of the SNLM had claimed responsibility for the blasts.

DIG (operation) of Hyderabad range Mazhar Shaikh also arrived on the spot and directed police to immediately arrest the terrorists. A press released issued by Wapda in Lahore said that with the damage of the two towers, power supply through the 500kv line could be disrupted and load shedding carried out in Sindh. It added that load shedding would continue for a week when repair of the towers would be completed.

ACCIDENT: Twenty passengers, including women and children, were injured when a Sehwan-bound bus overturned near Sehwan on Sunday.