Sindhi nationalists blow up rail tracks

At least six blasts ripped through the railway tracks near Hussainabad, Hyderabad and Nowshero Feroz districts, destroying portions of the railway tracks on Sunday. “The blasts occurred one after the other at around 6:00am to 6:10am and the traffic was restored for movement of trains by 8:30am,” said a Railways official at the Karachi City Station, where the main control room is located. The official said that the up and down tracks were damaged near the Nawabshah Railway Station and the locally made devices’ blast had caused a one-foot deep crater. However no loss of life or injuries was reported. He said that the Karachi-bound Tezgam escaped a major disaster as the blast on the down track occurred just one and a half minute before the arrival of the train.
The driver of Tezgam had taken immediate action and used emergency brakes to stop the train. Other trains heading for up country were stopped at different stations, he maintained. Police contingent and bomb disposal squad were summoned immediately to check for any more devices. Later, the railway maintenance staff arrived at the scene and made temporary arrangements to pass the up and down trains. The tracks were fully repaired for rail traffic after hectic efforts of three hours. The security officials investigating the blasts said that they had found the pamphlets of a separatist outfit Sindhu Desh Liberation Army (SDLA) near the explosion site. In February this year, SDLA had claimed responsibility for blasts on the railway tracks. The local media had linked the SDLA with the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), which routinely claims responsibility for the attacks on security forces, gas pipelines and non-locals in Balochistan. The officials said that a security plan had been put in place to protect the railway tracks with the assistance of the Sindh police, adding that the area was being patrolled to check terrorist activities.