At least 12 people, including women and children, were injured on Tuesday after the Quetta-bound Jaffar Express derailed following a bombing in the Spizend area of Mastung.
Railways officials said six bogies of the train, traveling from Peshawar, derailed, while one overturned, injuring the passengers in that carriage. This marked the second time within 24 hours that militants targeted a rail line in Balochistan. Earlier, an explosion near the main track linking Balochistan to the rest of the country briefly halted operations before being allowed to continue after security clearance. The track was undamaged in the blast.
Officials said 270 passengers were onboard the train at the time of the blast. They said train services would remain suspended until the damaged part of the track was repaired following a security clearance.
Terrorists often target the Jaffar Express, a key source for travel between Balochistan and the rest of the country. In June, five bogies derailed after a blast took place on a railway track near Jacobabad while the Jaffar Express was traveling from Peshawar to Quetta. The explosion damaged the railway line, disrupting train services in the area, but no casualties were reported.
In March, the outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for detonating explosives on train tracks and assaulting the Jaffar Express. They held more than 440 passengers hostage in a daylong standoff with security services in a remote mountain pass in the Bolan district. During the clash, military forces rescued hostages and killed 33 attackers. The terrorists, however, murdered 26 passengers and martyred four security personnel during the operation.