Hyderabad:
On Tuesday, Jaffar Express – a train that travels from Quetta to Peshawar through a route that passes through all four provinces – was targeted again in Shikarpur district of Sindh, while it was ferrying passengers from Rawalpindi to Quetta. A banned terrorist group, the Baloch Republican Guards (BRG), claimed responsibility for the attack.
Shikarpur Deputy Commissioner Shakeel Abro told media that the blast took place around 8:15 am, one kilometer from Sultankot railway station. The DC said an improvised explosive device (IED) was used in the blast.
“Four bogies derailed and seven passengers were injured due to the blast. Four of them were shifted to Combined Military Hospital and three to Shikarpur Civil Hospital,” he added.
Pakistan Railways Sukkur Divisional Superintendent Syed Moalim said passengers were shifted to the nearest stations while cranes were moved to put bogies back on the track.
Repair work on the damaged tracks continued throughout the evening. The train then proceeded to Jacobabad district en route to Quetta, he added.
According to SSP Shikarpur Shahzeb Chachar, the blast targeted the track which is used by trains passing through Jacobabad for destination direction.
“The police have started hunting the culprits,” he said. However, the FIR of the incident could only be registered by filing the report.
The Jaffar Express with at least 380 passengers on board was hijacked by the outlaw Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) on March 11 this year.
The attackers detonated explosives in the 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 save 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 the railway tracks derailed four bogies of the Jaffar Express near the cattle market in Jacobabad.
