Railways have once again been targeted in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province. Suspected insurgents on Friday detonated bombs on the railway track in an attempt to blow up the Jafar Express and Bolan Mail trains, damaging the track and severely affecting rail traffic. Quetta Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Shahid Nawaz said that the first blast occurred in Mushkaf area, in which about three feet of railway track was damaged. A second explosion occurred in the area, causing further damage to the track. He clarified that in both the cases Jaafar Express and Bolan Mail passenger trains were targeted.
Following the blasts, train services from Quetta to other parts of the country were disrupted due to damage to the main railway line. SSP Nawaz said that “now the timing of any passenger train running from Quetta will be confirmed only after the approval of the security agencies.” He stressed that the safety of passengers is paramount and special security arrangements are being made for all trains. In view of the situation, a special service of Jafar Express was allowed to depart for Peshawar on Saturday, so that the crowd of passengers could be controlled. According to railway officials, normal services are awaiting security clearance.
Zafar Express on repeated targets
- This is not the first time that Jafar Express has been attacked.
- At least three times in the last two months, this train and Bolan mail have been attacked.
- Although there were no casualties in the recent attacks, the track was heavily damaged.
Before this, the attack on Jafar Express on March 11 was extremely horrific, when terrorists fired on the train and took about 400 passengers hostage.
More than 20 people were killed in this attack, while security forces killed 33 terrorists in the operation. These continuous attacks have raised serious questions about Pakistan’s internal security arrangements in Balochistan.