DADU, Jan 1: Three bombs went off in Dodani village of Dadu taluka on Monday night and another one was defused on Tuesday morning, officials said. All the bombs were planted in high-tension lines pylons, they added.

Bomb disposal squad and the Shaheed Makhdoom Bilwal police said they defused a bomb which was planted in a pylon in the village, some 26 kilometres away from Dadu town, after three bombs, planted in two other pylons within the same village. No casualties were reported but the blasts caused damage to the power supply system, besides spreading panic in the area.

A man was arrested after the Monday night blasts, police said, claiming that he was spotted close to the blast scene. The police believed that the suspect was trying to flee. They also claimed that the suspect possessed explosive material.

Some residents of Dodani village informed the police early Tuesday morning about a bomb tied to another pylon in the village.

The police, along with the bomb disposal squad, rushed to the scene and cordoned off the area to avoid any casualties. The bomb was safely defused and the bomb disposal squad declared the area ‘clear’ after an hour.

Ghaffar Khushik, an officer of the bomb disposal squad, told Dawn that the blasts caused damage to the pylon numbers 30 and 31 in the three blasts on Monday night. The bomb safely defused weighed 500 grams and was tied to the pylon number 31, he added.

Shaheed Makdoom Bilwal SHO Niamatullah Babar told Dawn that the first bomb tied to the pylon number 30 went off at 8:29pm. He claimed that a man, Wajid Gadehi, a resident of Khairpur Nathan Shah, was arrested while trying to escape. He was carrying some explosive material, he added.

The SHO said that Gadehi was wounded in the blast.

“As soon as we returned to the police station at 8:42pm, we heard another blast which was followed by a third blast moments later,” he said.

During the interrogation, the suspect named two of his accomplices, he claimed.

He said the police registered an FIR (58/12) under Sections 3/4 and 6/7 of the Anti-terrorism Act against Wajid Gadehi, Rahim Jamali and Mehtab Kalhoro.

Another FIR was lodged by WAPDA high transmission line sub-divisional officer under the same sections against the three suspects.

The SHO said that the police on Tuesday obtained a three-day remand of Gadehi from the anti-terrorism court of Naushahro Feroze.

A Wapda-Hesco spokesman in Dadu, Mohammad Sadique Kubar, told Dawn that power supply to several towns and villages could be affected during the repair and restoration of the pylons.

He said no major disruption in power supply was caused as the high transmission lines remained unaffected by the impact of the blasts.

However, he added, disruption could occur during the repair work, which could take 20 days.

Dadu SSP Usman Ghani Siddiqui said that raids were conducted at several places to arrest those involved in the series of blasts. Security across the district had been tightened to keep a check on terrorists, he said, adding that a high-level investigation was under way.