HYDERABAD:
On Tuesday, Jaffar Express — a train that travels from Quetta to Peshawar through a route that passes through all four provinces — was once again targeted in Shikarpur district of Sindh, while it was carrying passengers from Rawalpindi to Quetta. An outlawed terrorist group, the Baloch Republican Guards (BRG), claimed responsibility for the attack.
Shikarpur Deputy Commissioner Shakeel Abro told the media that the explosion took place at around 8:15am, over a kilometre away from Sultankot railway station. The DC said an improvised explosive device (IED) was used for the blast.
“Four bogies were derailed and seven passengers sustained injuries due to the explosion. Four of them were shifted to the Combined Military Hospital and three to the Civil Hospital Shikarpur,” he added.
Pakistan Railways’ Sukkur divisional superintendent Syed Moalim said the passengers were shifted to the closer stations while cranes were moved to put bogies back on the track.
The repair work on the damaged tracks continued through the evening. The train later headed to Jacobabad district en route to Quetta, he added.
According to the SSP Shikarpur Shahzeb Chachar, the explosion targeted the track which is used by trains passing through Jacobabad for onward destination.
“Police have begun a hunt for the culprits,” he said. However, the incident’s FIR could not be registered till the filing of the report.
The Jaffar Express with at least 380 passengers on board was hijacked by the outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) on March 11 of this year.
The attackers detonated explosives in tunnels and on the tracks before opening fire, halting the train in a mountainous region difficult for authorities to access.
From March 11 to March 12, the Pakistan Army launched Operation Green Bolan to rescue the train. The operation freed 354 hostages and killed 33 BLA insurgents.
Three coaches of Jaffar Express were derailed near Shikarpur due to an explosion on July 28, leaving one injured. In June, the detonation of a remote-controlled explosive device fitted to rail tracks derailed four bogies of the Jaffar Express near the cattle market in Jacobabad.
