WORLD> Asia-Pacific
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WORLD> Asia-Pacific
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One killed, 35 hurt in SW Pakistan train bomb
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-06-12 08:32 QUETTA, Pakistan – One person was killed and 35 injured Thursday when a bomb hidden in a toilet exploded on a train in Pakistan's insurgency-hit southwestern Baluchistan province, a railway official said.
The bomb blast hit the train as it was about 45 kilometres (25 miles) away from its destination, the provincial capital Quetta. "One was killed and 35 people were injured in a blast on a passenger train," said Manzoor Ahmad Magsi, a railway official in Quetta. "It was a bomb planted in a toilet in an economy class carriage. Rescue work is underway. It is a far-flung area and we are facing difficulties to shift the injured to hospital," he later added. The train was travelling from the southern port city Karachi to Quetta. Gas-rich Baluchistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, is rife with militant and sectarian violence. Hundreds of people have died since an insurgency flared in late 2004 in Baluchistan, where rebels are demanding political autonomy and a greater share of profits from the region's natural resources. Pakistan has also recently been hit by a string of Taliban-related bomb blasts, as fears grow that Islamist extremists are exacting revenge for a six-week military offensive against them in three northwest districts. |
