The Jaffar Express, which has been targeted multiple times in the recent past, escaped a bomb attack in Balochistan’s Nasirabad district on Sunday, police and railway officials said.
According to police officials, unidentified attackers had planted an explosive device on the railway track in the Shaheed Abdul Aziz Bullo area to target the Peshawar-bound train that was travelling from Quetta and later detonated it.
However, the train passed the area safely, and no loss of life was reported, the officials said.
Nasirabad Senior Superintendent of Police Ghulam Sarwar told Dawn that police and other security forces had reached the site soon after the blast, cordoned off the area and initiated an investigation.
“A search operation has also been launched to trace the elements involved in the bomb attack,” he said.
Separately, railway officials told Dawn a portion of the track was damaged due to the blast, as a result of which railway traffic between Quetta and the rest of the country was suspended. Meanwhile, the officials added that the Jaffar Express continued its journey to Peshawar after reaching Jacobabad in Sindh.
The railway officials said Jaffar Express had resumed operations today after a suspension of four days. The train’s operations were suspended due to security concerns, they said.
With a rise in terrorist attacks over the past few years, Balochistan has seen a series of incidents where militants blow up train tracks, targeting the province’s transport infrastructure.
Jaffar Express has been attacked frequently since March 11, when Balochistan Liberation Army terrorists ambushed the Peshawar-bound train carrying 440 passengers, opening fire and taking hostages. Consequently, the security forces initiated an operation that lasted two days.
Inter-Services Public Relations Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said on March 12 that the Jaffar Express clearance operation launched a day after the train’s unprecedented hijacking, was complete. He added that all terrorists, 33 in total, at the site of the attack had been killed.
On June 18, the detonation of a remote-controlled explosive device fitted to rail tracks derailed four bogies of the Jaffar Express near the cattle market in Jacobabad. No one was hurt in the incident, but the attack was reportedly claimed by the banned Baloch Republican Guards in a statement.
On August 7, the Quetta-bound Jaffar Express narrowly escaped disaster when a bomb planted near the track close to Sibi Railway Station exploded just after the passenger train passed.
Later that week on August 10, no loss of life was reported after a bomb blast on a railway track in Balochistan’s Mastung district derailed six bogies of Jaffar Express. Muhammad Kashif, public relations officer of the Pakistan Railways’ Quetta division, told Dawn: “A bomb attached to the railway track exploded loudly, derailing six bogies of the train.“
On September 23, at least four people were injured as a blast derailed six bogies of Jaffar Express near Spezand town in the Dasht tehsil of Balochistan’s Mastung district.
On October 7, at least seven people were injured after a blast on a railway track derailed four bogies of Jaffar Express in Sindh’s Shikarpur district.
