A suspected pipe bomb injured 25 people on a passenger train in the Taiwanese capital late yesterday, officials said.

The blast shook Taipei's Songshan station at close to midnight and witnesses quoted on Taiwanese television described seeing a man leaving a long black device on the train just before the explosion.

Premier Lin Chuan told Taiwanese television the blast appeared to be a deliberate "act of malice".

Police and the Taipei fire department said a "steel pipe" was the origin of the blast.

- Reuters