Bomb Derails Train in SW Pakistan, Wounds Three

A bomb hit a passenger train in the restive southwestern Pakistan province of Baluchistan Thursday, derailing it and wounding three passengers, officials said.

The bomb in the Dasht region hit the moving Bugti Express about 30 kilometers before its final destination of Quetta, the provincial capital of Baluchistan. The train was coming from the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore.

"A bomb blast derailed the engine and three bogies of Bugti Express as a result of which three passengers were wounded," local security official Ameer Hamza told AFP.

Hamza said the wounded were transported to hospital in Quetta by road.

Nobody immediately claimed responsibility, but Baluch separatist rebels active in the area have recently intensified attacks against ethnic minorities and outsiders.

The rebels often attack government forces, installations and settlers from central Punjab province.

Last month the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said that more than 300,000 people including minority Shiites and Hindus had left Baluchistan over the past 10 years due to rising unrest.

Baluchistan, Pakistan's largest but least developed and most sparsely populated province, is also racked by Islamist militants, banditry and sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shiites.