LARKANA: A powerful bomb on a railway track in Jacobabad district derailed three bogies of a train, leaving six passengers dead and 30 injured on Sunday.

The blast took place when the Peshawar-bound Khushhal Khan Khattak Express was passing through the abandoned Mir Hassan railway station near Unnarwah area in Thull.

AP news agency put the death toll at eight.

The banned Baloch Republican Army (BRA) owned up to the bomb attack.

PPP patron-in-chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari condemned the blast.

Bomb disposal personnel told reporters that the bomb weighed 10 to 15 kilograms and was detonated by remote control.

Commissioner Larkana Dr Saeed Ahmed Mangnego told Dawn that another bomb weighing seven to eight kilograms planted near the same track at a distance of about 20 feet did not explode.

According to railway sources, the blast caused a five-foot deep crater and damaged 190 feet of the track.

The dead were identified as Shahban, 60, Ali Hassan, 9; Mohammad Hussain, 7; Ghalib, 9, and a minor boy, Mehram Ali. They belonged to Kandhkot and Kashmor. The sixth victim could not be identified.

The injured included Ms Gullan Malik, Ms Shazia Malik, Ms Benazir Malik, Rehmat Malik, Saqib Ali, Waris Ali Lashari, Khan Afsar, Ms Baharan, Khair Mohammad Malik, Ms Farzana Malik, Ms Shahnaz Malik, Ms Marvi Lashari, Ghulam Nabi, Rehman Malik, Kainat Malik, Mohammad Nawaz Lashari, Ms Hajran Jat and Ms Leela Malik.

The injured were taken to hospitals in Thull, Kashmor, Jacobabad and Larkana.

Those who had suffered head injuries were later referred to the Chandka Medical College Hospital in Larkana.

Commissioner Larkana Dr Saeed, Deputy Commissioner Sardar Jamali and SSP Jacobabad Younis Chandio reached the blast site and supervised rescue work.

Railway personnel started repairing the damaged track under tight security provided by Rangers and police. A source said that because of non-availability of heavy machinery railway workers were manually pushing the damaged bogies to clear the track.

Three bogies remained intact and were allowed to continue onward journey to Kandhkot, the railway sources said.

Waseem Shamsi adds from Sukkur: An emergency was declared in the Jacobabad civil hospital where most of the injured were undergoing treatment.

PPP leaders Senator Aijaz Dhamrah, MPA Sardar Muqeem Khoso and Sardar Mohammad Panah Odho and Jacobabad Chamber of Commerce president Mir Ahmed Ali Brohi visited the hospital and inquired after the health of the injured.

Activists of the Sindh Peoples Student Federation and PPP donated blood.

Talking to reporters, Senator Dhamrah said some clues had been found about the involvement of a ‘group’ in the blast.

He did not identify the group and only said it was being investigated. He said the situation in all the provinces was the same and innocent people were being killed.

He said the incident was a revenge for the ongoing operation in Karachi.

Meanwhile, Jacobabad Deputy Commissioner and Fair Committee Chairman Sardar Ali Jamali announced postponement of the Sindh horse and cattle show in solidarity with the families of those killed and injured in the blast.

Saleem Shahid adds from Quetta: The outlawed BRA claimed responsibility for the blast. Calling to reporters from an unspecified place, its spokesman Sarbaz Baloch said his organisation had carried out the attack because the Peshawar-bound train was carrying security personnel.

He said the attack was a revenge for what he alleged the killing of 27 people, including women and children, in Dear Bugti and Kohistan Marri by security forces.

He claimed that the eight people killed in the bomb attack were security personnel. The BRA would continue such attacks if the killing of Baloch people was not stopped, he warned.

Agencies add: In a statement, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said those killing innocent human beings in merciless violence were barbarians who deserved no mercy. He said these elements were trying to destabilise the country through terrorism. Their subversive activities were highly condemnable.

He expressed sympathy with the families of the victims. He directed the local PPP leaders to help the victims’ families and ensure best possible medical treatment to the injured.

Railways Minister Saad Rafiq said officials were working to reopen the track at the earliest.