BAGHDAD: Insurgents set off a huge blaze when they blew up a train carrying petroleum products in Baghdad on Friday. The attack was the first such incident in Iraq, railway spokesman Jawad al Kharsan said. It ignited a massive blaze extending down the railway line in southern Baghdad.

An Iraqi soldier was killed and four others, including a civilian, were injured in the blast. The five-man train crew however escaped unhurt, railway officials said. The seven-tanker convoy was attacked less than a kilometre away from the Dura oil refinery.

An interior ministry official said the train struck a bomb on the line, but railway workers said the explosion could also have been caused by a rocket-propelled grenade.—AFP