Bolan Express bombed; one killed, 35 hurt
By: Bari Baloch
QUETTA
- One person was killed and 35 injured including women and children
when a bomb planted in a washroom
of Quetta-bound Bolan Express exploded near Kolpur, some 45 km away
from provincial capital on Thursday.
Baloch Republican Army claimed responsibility for the bomb blast.
According to official sources, the train was travelling from Karachi
to Quetta when it reached near Doozan Railway
Station of Kolpur area the device exploded in bogie number 3,
killing Nabi Bakhsh hailing from Larkana on
the spot and leaving 35 others with critical wounds including women
and children.
‘It was a bomb planted in a toilet in an economy class carriage and
the incident took place at a far-flung area’, said
Manzoor Ahmad Magsi, DS Railways Quetta .
He said that investigations will be launched to know the actual
reason behind the blast.
Soon after the incident Railways authorities, law-enforcement
agencies and local people rushed to blast site and retrieved
the injured from the train.The injured and deceased were rushed to
Civil Hospital Quetta and Bolan Medical Complex Hospital where
emergency was declared.
The mother of 4-year-old Nouman and Mehmam-5, who were wounded in
the blast, told The Nation that they alongwith
other relatives were heading Quetta from Karachi when a huge blast
occurred in the cabin.‘Gaining conscious I found a man dead in the
cabin and my children and other scores of people were wounded’, she
added. A 50 year old
Hassan-ud-din who had received multiple injuries told that as the
train approaching Kolpur, the blast
occurred and he was hit by many splinters and fell unconscious.
Some injured were identified as Habib, Gul Hameed, Shahzad, Aman
Adeel, Mehmood, Ghulam Dastagir, Barkat,
Imran Masih, Parveen, Shakila, Noora Bibi, Fayyaz Ali, Ghuda Hassan
and Sana Ali. The condition of Barkat
and several others was stated to be serious.The spokesman of Baloch
Republican Army (BRA) Sarbaaz Baloch calling from unspecified
location claimed responsibility
of the blast.
According to reports, Prime Minister
Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has vehemently condemned the blast in Bolan Express
and ordered inquiry into the incident.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Balochistan
Nawab Asalm Raisani while condemning the blast directed to provide best
medical facilities to blast victims. He also directed the concerned
authorities to submit the report about incident
within 24 hours.
Meanwhile, at least three people
including two security personnel were killed and 12 others were
wounded apparently
in remote controlled bomb blast in Khuzdar district on Thursday.
As per reports reaching here, unknown
people had fitted an explosive device with a motorbike and parked it close
to the vehicle of security forces at national highway in Wadh area.
The device exploded and killed two security
personnel and a passerby on the spot. Eleven others including five
security personnel were wounded.
The injured were rushed to CMH
Khuzdar.
The sources said that the explosion
was made through a remote controlled device when some security personnel
were sitting in a vehicle near a hotel on the eve of inauguration of
free medical camp. Some
injured were identified as Irshad, Amjad, Muhammad Ishaq, Faiz
Muhamamd, Pasoond Khan, Niamatullah,
Habib-ur-Rehman, Muhammad Ramazan, and Gul Muhammad.
Soon after the incident law
enforcement agencies cordoned off the area and started search for
accused persons.
The sources said several accused
people have been arrested in connection with the blast and they were
being interrogated. Meanwhile,
spokesman of Lashkar-e-Balochistan an armed resistance group claimed
responsibility for the bomb
attack on security personnel.
The Nation :
June 12, 2009 |
