QUETTA - At least three passengers died and 18 others, including two women received serious injuries when unknown assailants attacked Quetta-Express with rockets and sophisticated weapons in Bolan district, some 70 km southeast of the provincial capital on Sunday afternoon. Officials sources said, Quetta Express carrying passengers of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhawa for Eid from Balochistan was passing the mountainous area of Bolan near Landipul, some 5 km away from Machh town when dozens of armed men taking positions in different groups on the top of mountains fired three rockets on engine of the train. Later, they opened indiscriminate firing on the bogies of the train and one of the rockets hit the engine while two others missed causing death of three persons while 18 others received injuries, they added. The driver despite rocket attack on the engine did not stop the train and further sped up the locomotive instead. The train was stopped at Machh where after two and half hours, the ambulances reached from Sibi and Quetta alongwith administrative officials. The dead and injured were shifted to Quetta. According to passengers that had the medical team reached in time, nobody would have died as all three deceased succumbed to their injuries due to loss of blood. Later, the train was dispatched amidst tight security. The deceased were identified Maqbool Ahmad, a resident of Vehari, Majeed Ahmad of Bhawalpur and Rahim Bakhsh of Dera Murad Jamali. The injured were named as Rasheed Ahmad, Ghulam Rasool, Mukhtiar, Saeed Ahmad, Iftikhar Ahmad, Muhammad Yar, Nasir Iqbal, Noor Bakhat, Muhammad Iqbal, Iqbaluddin, Yaqub, Nadir, Naveed Ahmad, Irshad, Shamshad, Abbass, Zahid and Mushtaq. 'We first heard three explosions and thought that were rocket attacks followed by intense fire and like me a number of passengers received bullet injuries, said an injured Mushtaq. Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attack, however, it is believed Baloch militants can be behind this attack. Home and Tribal Affairs Secretary Naseebullah Bazai told newsmen that some 40 armed men were perched on the top of the mountains near Machh area and ambushed the passenger train. 'One of the group of attackers engaged personnel of Frontier Corps of a post on the top of another mountain while the rest kept firing on moving train, he said and confirmed that three persons were dead while 18 others got injured. He said that emergency was declared in two major hospitals of Quetta to provide the injured medical facility to save their lives. He said that he personally was in contact with Commissioner Naseerabad, Deputy Commissioners of Bolan and Mustung districts for securing the track and route. He said that there were personnel of Frontier Corps and police who also returned fire on the attackers.