A powerful bomb blast today derailed a passenger train in Pakistan's restive Balochistan province, injuring at least 12 people.
Police said the explosion in the Mastung district was so powerful that four bogies were derailed immediately and 12 passengers were injured.
"The bomb was placed on a track in the Dasht area and triggered by remote control when the Quetta bound Bugti express passed through late evening," senior police official Muhammad Buledi said.
He said the passenger train was headed to Quetta from Lahore.
"Since it was coming from Lahore one cannot rule out this as a teror act of the insurgents," he said.
"The Dasht area in Mastung is infested with insurgents and militants who keep on striking government installations from time to time," another police official said.
Railways Minister Saad Rafiq said that all passengers were safe in the aftermath of the attack and that 80 per cent of the passengers have been sent to Quetta via road.
The bomb appeared to have been planted on the railway tracks and it exploded as the train passed.
"The railway traffic was suspended and the injured were rushed to Quetta for treatment," an official said.
