KARACHI: Fourteen low-intensity bomb explosions partly damaged railway tracks in eight districts of Sindh, including Karachi, and halted rail traffic for up to six hours on Saturday, police said.
They said that besides Karachi, the locally-made explosive devices were set off in Jamshoro, Hyderabad, Shaheed Benazirabad, Sanghar, Naushahro Feroze, Khairpur and Ghotki districts, sowing fear among passengers as well as staff of the Pakistan Railways (PR).
While the police said they had reason to believe that the latest string of blasts were connected with last year’s attacks that were executed in a similar manner, investigators found ‘several pieces of evidence’ giving a clue to the motive and the people behind the fresh episode.
“In Karachi early at around 5:55am two blasts were reported on tracks near Bin Qasim,” said Railway Police SP Muzaffar Sheikh.
“Our team along with the bomb disposal unit of the Sindh police examined the area hardly half an hour after the incident. The two blasts, which had occurred at the same place, damaged the up and down tracks.”
He said the Hazara Express was scheduled to pass through the area on the way to its destination in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa an hour after the blasts but it was delayed for repairs to the damaged tracks.
“The tracks were repaired within a couple of hours and the railway traffic was resumed. We have found one or two pamphlets written in Sindhi from the blast site through which the Sindhudesh Liberation Army has claimed the responsibility for the attacks,” the SP said.
“There are anti-state slogans [in the pamphlets] and some text about the struggle for the liberation of Sindh. We are investigating the authenticity of the pamphlets and also gathering facts from the interior of Sindh to initiate a formal investigation.”
He said the area between Karachi and Hyderabad, where a total of four blasts were reported — including two in Karachi — was under his command. The intensity and timing of the blasts were almost the same in all the four cases, he added.
A spokesman for the Central Police Office said that the Sindh Inspector General of Police, Mushtaq Shah, had ordered an investigation into the organised attacks.
“IG Shah has also sought an initial inquiry report regarding these blasts from the DIGs concerned and issued orders for the arrest of those involved in the blasts,” the spokesman said, adding that effective measures were also assured for surveillance, monitoring and intelligence gathering.
The blasts affected the railways schedule, with a total of 19 express trains, including the Business Express, postponed for up to four hours. Several trains were also brought to a halt in other cities of Sindh.
“A total of 19 trains, including Pak Business Express, Hazara Express, Awam Express, Khyber Mail Express, Tezgam Express, Karachi Express, Fareed Express and Karakoram Express, were stopped at the Hyderabad, Karachi, Nawabshah, Mirpur Mathelo, Daharki, Sadiqabad and Rahim Yar Khan railway stations,” said PR spokesman Abdul Hameed Razi. “In some cases we faced up to a four-hour delay and at a few places a little longer delay was reported. However, our staff with the assistance of the law-enforcement agencies managed to fix the problem within the shortest possible time allowing all the trains to leave for their destinations.”
An official of the bomb disposal unit said that 100 grams of explosive was used to carry out each blast in Karachi.
“The explosive material was not of very good quality. They [terrorists] detonated it with a non-electrical device, in this case with fire, which is what you usually see in fireworks,” he added.
In the light of the evidence so far gathered by the police, the political administration of the province believed that the attacks were ‘motivated by a sense of deprivation among a group of Sindhi people’.
“We have received final and confirmed reports of total 14 blasts on railway tracks in the province,” Sindh Home Minister Manzoor Hussain Wassan told reporters after a meeting in Karachi. “As in Balochistan, there is also a sense of deprivation amongst a group of people here. Although initial investigation indicates that those behind these blasts could be such people, it is a little too early to reach a conclusion.”
Meanwhile, a case (FIR 05/2012) was registered under Section 3/4 of the Explosive Substance Act, Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997 and Section 126 of the Railway Act on a complaint of a senior PR official at the Landhi Railway police station.
Hyderabad Five powerful explosions damaged a two- to three-foot piece each of the up and down railway tracks and near a gas pipeline in Hyderabad and Tando Mohammad Khan. The tracks are located within the remit of the Hussainabad, Qasimabad and GOR police stations.
The explosions occurred at around 6am. Karakoram Express and Bolan Mail were due to pass over the up and down tracks. The blasts occurred at Sehrish Nagar, Nagina Cotton Factory, Kotri Site area, and Unit-7, Latifabad.
Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) officials claimed that in each case a locally made bomb carrying two pounds of explosives and fitted with non-electrical devices was used. “We found safety fuse which indicates that it was a non-electric device,” said a BDS official. Bolan Mail bound for Karachi from Quetta and Karakoram Express bound for Lahore were halted at the Kotri and Hyderabad railway stations, respectively.
Papers inscribed with ‘Sindh Liberation Army’ and ‘from Commander Darya Khan’ were found at the blast scene.
The blasts took place at more or less the same location where bomb explosions had previously occurred. The rail traffic remained suspended for a couple of hours. Another explosion was reported in a gas pipeline in Tando Mohammad Khan near Bukhari oil field.
Naushahro Feroze Two explosions damaged two feet of up and down tracks near Padidan in Naushahro Feroze in the morning.
Khyber Mail and Sukkur Express were halted for about three hours away from Padidan and the bomb disposal staff were called out. After visiting the scene, BDS officials declared that the blasts were caused by five-kilo homemade bombs.
Nawabshah Three explosions took place at different locations of the down country track in Nawabshah and Daur areas damaging the tracks and suspending rail traffic for five hours. Pamphlets inscribed with ‘Sindh Liberation Army’ were found at the blast sites.
Two explosions took place at 5.50am near Laung Khan Keerio village and the third blast occurred about two kilometres from Daur at gate No.313 at 6.25am.
Sukkur Express, Millat Express and other trains were halted at different railway stations until the tracks were repaired and cleared after five hours.
Khairpur In Khairpur, a bomb went off near the Deparja railway crossing damaging railway tracks and suspending rail traffic.
The blast occurred within the remit of the Setharja police station and normal rail traffic was restored after repair work was completed after six hours of the blast.
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