Several people were injured in a blast that occurred on a railway track, which derailed five bogies of a train in Pakistan’s southwestern Sindh province on Tuesday, railway police said.The injured passengers of the Peshawar-bound Jaffar Express, which has been attacked multiple times this year, were immediately rushed to a nearby hospital. The explosion occurred near Somarwah, close to Sultan Kot in Shikarpur district of Sindh. A rescue operation is underway at the site, police said.
Heavy contingents of police and paramilitary forces have cordoned off the area and begun collecting evidence to determine the nature of the explosion. Initial reports suggest that the railway track has sustained significant damage.
The Jafar Express, which runs between Quetta and Peshawar, has been repeatedly targeted in recent months, with the attack in March being the worst.
In September this year, a blast on the railway track in Dasht area of Mastung, Balochistan, destroyed one coach of Jaffar Express and derailed six others, leaving 12 passengers injured.
On August 10, four people were injured when an improvised explosive device derailed six coaches of the train in the Mastung district. On August 4, the pilot engine sent for clearance came under gunfire near Kolpur. The separatist Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the latter attack.