Hundreds of passengers on board a Rawalpindi-bound train had a narrow escape when the driver stopped the train before it hit a bomb planted on the tracks in the restive Balochistan province, officials said on Monday.
The Jaffar Express, which was going from Quetta to Rawalpindi, had about 700 people on board. The driver saw a suspicious object attached to the tracks near Kolpur yesterday and stopped the train, security officials said.
"The driver stopped the train and informed Pakistan Railway officials about the object," a police official said. A bomb disposal squad sent to the site confirmed that the suspicious object was an improvised explosive device, he said.
The IED was later defused by the bomb disposal squad.
Officials said the driver’s timely action had prevented a major disaster.
The bomb, which contained about 15-kg of explosives, could have caused widespread damage, the officials said. Most of the people on the train were travelling home for the three-day Eid-ul-Fitr holidays.
The train was stopped for two hours before being allowed to resume its journey.