Friday, March 18 2005 22:00 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Quetta: Bombs exploded on two trains in south-western Pakistan today (March 18, 2005), killing two people and wounding eight, railway police said.

The bombs were planted in toilets on two trains travelling on the main railway line in the restive province of Baluchistan. They exploded about three hours apart.

The blasts came a day after a fierce gun-battle between troops and renegade tribesmen left eight soldiers dead and 23 others wounded elsewhere in the province. Officials have yet to confirm how many tribesmen were killed.

The first bomb was a homemade device that killed one soldier on a train at a station at Mach, a town about 35 kilometers southeast of Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan, railway police official Naeem Kakar said.

At least five other people were injured, two critically.

"We don't know who carried out this attack, and so far police have made no arrests," he said.

Kakar said the train was coming to Quetta from the eastern city of Lahore, and the blast partially damaged its one car. He gave no other details.

The second bomb went off on a moving train travelling in the opposite direction on the same line near the Sibi railway station, about 100 kilometers southeast of Quetta.

Saif Ali, another railway police official, said one person was killed and three wounded.