Train blast kills one passenger in SW Pakistan

A bomb planted on the track killed at least one train passenger and wounded four others in Pakistan’s restive southwestern province of Balochistan on Tuesday, officials said.

The improvised explosive device exploded as the Jaffar Express from Rawalpindi passed over it 180 kilometres (111 miles) east of Quetta, local security official Naseer Ullah told AFP.

“A passenger was killed and four others were wounded and moved to hospital,” he said.

A three-feet section of the track was destroyed by the bombing, which hit the second carriage.

The injured were taken to hospital in the town of Sibbi 25 kilometres north of the blast site.

A provincial home minister official in Quetta confirmed the details.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Taliban militants are active in the region.

Quetta is the capital of Balochistan province, which is also home to a separatist insurgency that has been raging since 2004.

The province’s roughly seven million people have long complained they do not receive a fair share of its gas and mineral wealth.