KOHAT A bomb exploded near the railway track minutes before the crossing of a railcar in the Bahawalnagar area here late Wednesday night. Police reached the site along with the bomb disposal squad and commandos. It was a remote-control bomb.

This was the fifth blast at the same site, which is close to the ISSB Officers' Mess, ISI offices and the army's Dairy Farm. Meanwhile, three rockets were fired by suspected militants from the Bezote area of the adjoining Orakzai Agency on the Kohat city on Thursday evening.

One rocket exploded in a graveyard in the Merozai area on the Rawalpindi road and the other two fell in the fields in Afridi Banda. However, there were no casualties.

ARMS SEIZED Police seized a Karachi-bound truck carrying a huge quantity of arms and ammunition at the Gulshanabad checkpost here on Thursday

The accused, Dandaz Khan, told Dawn that the consignment was destined for Karachi and was to be delivered to one Sarwar who had paid him Rs15,000 for the task in addition to other expenses. The consignment was loaded in the truck in the biggest arms market of the Khyber Agency, which was sold to Sarwar allegedly by an influential person of the Khyber Agency, Baz Gul.

The seizure included 40 Kalashnikovs, 108 automatic pistols, 418 chargers, 26,580 cartridges and dozens of pen pistols. The truck crossed into Kohat after crossing one army and one FC checkpost without being stopped despite prior information.

District Police Officer Abdullah Khan, speaking at a press conference, said they had got the information a week ago and now they would try to arrest the other members of the gang in tribal areas and in Karachi.

We have informed the Karachi police about the name and address of the man to whom the consignment was to be delivered, he said.

DELEGATION A delegation headed by MPA Dr Iqbal Din Fana called on Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti and apprised him about longstanding demands of the people of the PF-39 constituency, especially Lachi and Shakardarra areas.

The MPA urged the chief minister, who was accompanied by Senior Minister Bashir Ahmed Bilour, to approve supply of gas within five-kilometre radius of the reserves in Shakardarra, funds for the Tehsil Municipal Administration, a grid station for Shakardarra and land ownership rights to the people of Jarma.

He demanded that the Karrappa-Shakardarra road should be constructed from funds other than social welfare funds because the route was used by the OGDCL for supply of oil.

He called upon the chief minister to issue directives for early start of work on the Sumari dam. The MPA also demanded that the problem of low voltage in Shakardarra should be addressed.

He regretted that the people of the Lachi town from where the main gas supply line of the OGDCL and the MOL Company passed were still deprived of the facility. He said the area should be provided with gas facility on priority basis.

The delegation comprised Jarma Nazim Tehseen Ahmed, Shahpur Nazim Iqbal Afridi, Lachi Nazim Maqbool, Sardar Khan of the Jamaat-i-Islami, Khanzada Alam Khan and other elders of the area. The chief minister and the senior minister assured the delegation that their demands would be met.