KARACHI: Suspected Islamist militants blew up railway tracks at four sites in Pakistan's southern province of Sindh early Friday, disrupting train services, officials said.
There were no casualties when small bombs damaged the tracks near Karachi, Hyderabad, Nawabshah and Mehrabpur districts, in what appeared to be coordinated attacks, police and railway officials said.
"Two low-intensity bombs planted on both the up and down railway tracks went off outside Karachi early morning, causing damage to the tracks," senior police officer Chaudhry Asad told AFP.
Train services were suspended and repair work had begun, he said.
About 30 minutes later two more blasts damaged railway tracks near Hyderabad city, Pakistan Railways official Aftab Memon said.
Two additional blasts on tracks were reported from Nawabshah district and another two in the Sindh area of Mehrabpur, he said.
"All these blasts were similar in nature, causing damage to the track but no casualties," he said.
Home ministry official Sharfuddin Memon blamed militants for the attacks.
"These attacks are linked to the situation in northwest Pakistan and the aim was to target communications networks and create panic among the people," he said.
Pakistan suffers near-daily attacks blamed on Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants, who are most active in the lawless tribal belt of northwest Pakistan on the border with Afghanistan.
A teenage suicide bomber killed up to 31 Pakistani army recruits at a parade ground on Thursday, an attack the Taliban said was revenge for US drone strikes and local military offensives.
However, attacks by the extremists on infrastructure such as railways are relatively rare.
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