Deadly Blast Derails Pakistani Train

Officials say a blast has derailed a passenger train in central Pakistan, killing three people and wounding at least 15 others. The explosion hit the train in the Rajanpur district of Punjab province on January 17. It derailed at least seven train carriages. AFP news agency quoted a senior police official as saying the explosion was caused by a bomb placed in a carriage. The Khushhal Khan Khattack Express was traveling from the northwestern city of Peshawar to the southern port of Karachi. Rescue work is under way. Since 2007, Pakistan has been gripped by a local Taliban-led insurgency, concentrated largely in the northwest. On January 16, a large explosion at an Islamic center in the northern town of Peshawar, killing at least five people and wounded more than 50 others.