Bomb Blast Derails Russian Passenger Train

A blast has derailed a passenger train near the border of Chechnya. So far no reports of injuries or fatalities.

Reports are coming through of a gunman shooting at rescue workers arriving on the scene.

A passenger train has been derailed by a bomb blast on a railway line in Russia's southern Dagestan near the border with the rebel region of Chechnya, according to agency reports.

The Itar-Tass agency says no-one was injured or killed on the train according to preliminary information.

Two carriages and the locomotive were derailed in the blast.

RIA Novosti news agency quoted a local official as saying unknown people had planted an explosive device on the tracks and it had exploded as the train passed.