Freedom is on the march

Main rail link to Quetta blown up

By Saleem Shahid

QUETTA, Feb 7: Saboteurs blew up a portion of the railway track linking Quetta with the rest of the country late on Monday night.

Railway sources said criminals had planted a bomb under the main railway line between Sibi and Jacobabad. All Quetta-bound trains coming from Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi were stopped at the Jacobabad railway station after the blast.

The sources said the miscreants had planted the bomb in the Allahabad area of Damboli. It went off at 11:30pm and damaged the track.

"Around three-foot-long railway line was blown up, suspending all railway traffic on the main line," officials said and added that the railways had sent engineers and other staff from Sukkur to repair the damaged railway line.

Pilot engine and staff also left for the spot from Sibi while the Rawalpindi-bound Zarghoon Express was stopped at Sibi station till the resumption of railway traffic.

Repeater station tower blown up

QUETTA, Feb 7: Saboteurs blew up a microwave repeater station tower in Barkhan district, some 300km northeast of here, on Monday, disrupting telecommunication contact of the area with rest of the country.

"It was a microwave repeater station tower that was destroyed through blasting explosive material," a senior officer of levies told Dawn by telephone. The station was situated at a mountain, some 25km from Barkhan township.

Sources said the saboteurs had planted explosive material around the target and blew it up at about 10am. The microwave repeater station tower was completely destroyed.

Telephonic link of the Barkhan district and adjoing areas has been completely cut off with the rest of the country. "Several thousand telephones have been affected in the area due to blowing up of the microwave repeater station tower," officials of the telecommunication department said.

A spokesman of the Baloch Liberation Army has accepted the responsibility of the blast. "We have blown up the microwave repeater station," a man claiming to be Azad Khan said while calling through cellphone from an unknown place.