LARKANA, April 24: Sui gas supply to Larkana and Qambar-Shahdadkot districts as well as Garhi Yaseen town of Shikarpur district was suspended soon after a portion of the 18-inch-diameter pipeline near Talbani village, some 12 kilometres from here, was blown up at around 3am on Wednesday.

The bomb disposal squad rushed to the spot and after inspecting the damaged pipeline and assessing the impact of the blast concluded that the blast was caused by explosives detonated with a time-device. Preliminary investigation suggested that about seven kilograms of explosive material was used to blow up the pipeline.

Although the Sindhu-desh Revolutionary Army (SRA) claimed responsibility for the bombing, Larkana SSP told Dawn that a recently banned nationalist organisation seemed to be behind the blast.

The blast ruptured a 22-foot section of the pipeline and caused suspension of gas supply to all cities, towns and villages of Larkana and Qambar-Shahdadkot districts. Gas supply to Garhi Yaseen in Shikarpur district also stopped.

Police and Rangers personnel rushed to the scene while a rescue team from the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) regional headquarters, Shikarpur, also reached the spot and assessed the damage.

SSGC regional manager in Larkana Fayyaz Ahmed Shaikh told Dawn that a 40-50 feet portion of the high pressure line was damaged in the blast. “The repair work has been started and the gas supply will hopefully be restored by midnight,” he said.

Another SSGC official heading the company’s transmission wing in the Shikarpur headquarter, Ghazi Anwar Keerio, who was supervising the repair work, said that the length of the damaged section of the pipeline was 70-80 feet. He said that explosives were fixed to the section passing through the Talbani and Rasheed Wagan villages along the right bank of the Indus.

Larkana Deputy Commissioner Umar Farooque Bullo, who also visited the blast site, asked the SSGC team to undertake the repair work on an emergency basis and complete it as early as possible.

Hundreds of thousands of households in the two affected districts and Garhi Yaseen town suffered a lot due to the day-long suspension of gas supply. Most people had to buy ready-made food from restaurants, fast-food outlets, bakeries and other eateries which used firewood and other fuel to run their business.

Our Sukkur correspondent adds: A section of the Sui gas pipeline near Pandhi Khan Talani village of Shikarpur district burst with a big bang creating panic among the residents of a vast area falling within the remit of the Saddar police station on Wednesday.

Police rushed to the spot and found that a section of the old pipeline got burst due to gas pressure.

No loss of life or property was reported and the police said there was no evidence suggesting use of explosives.