Authorities say at least 25 people have been killed after a bomb exploded at a railway station in Pakistan’s south-western Balochistan province.
Dozens of others were injured in the blast, which happened as a popular morning train was about to leave Quetta station in southwestern Pakistan for Peshawar.
A separatist militant group, the Balochistan Liberation Army, said it carried out what police are deeming a suicide attack.
There has been a recent surge in deadly attacks in the province, driven by demands for independence and control over local resources.
The city’s commissioner said that the suicide bomber was among the dead, while about 50 others were injured in the blast.
Senior police official Muhammad Baloch said the explosion was thought to have been caused by a suicide bomber carrying 6-8kg of explosives. The dead and injured included both civilians and military personnel, he told the BBC.
Videos shared on social media appear to show the moment the explosion happened on Saturday morning, with dozens of people visible at the platform.
There is also footage circulating of the aftermath, showing a number of injured people and debris spread across the station.
Abdul Jabbar was among the injured brought to the Civil Hospital. He said that he was entering the station, having purchased a ticket from the booking office, when the explosion happened.
“I can’t describe the horror I faced today, it was like a judgement day has come,” he said.
Muhammad Sohail arrived soon after the explosion had happened to catch his train to Multan, in Punjab province.
“Everything was destroyed at the station, and people were laying down on the ground screaming for help,” he said.
The Baloch Liberation Army, which claimed responsibility for the attack, said in a statement released on social media that it had targeted a Pakistan military unit that was returning from Quetta after completing a training course.
Police later confirmed 14 soldiers were among the dead.
The chief minister of Balochistan called the act deplorable and the perpetrators “worse than animals”. Mir Sarfraz Bugti said the authorities would pursue them and “bring them to their logical end”.
The speaker of Pakistan’s National Assembly, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, condemned the blast, saying those responsible were the “enemies of humanity”.
Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest province and the richest in terms of natural resources, but it is the least developed.
The region shares a volatile border with Iran and Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, and also boasts a vast coastline along the Arabian Sea.
In August, at least 73 people were killed in a series of attacks – which the Baloch Liberation Army also claimed responsibility for – targeting police stations, railway lines and highways, according to Reuters.
The militant separatist group has been waging a decades-long insurgency to gain independence for the region from Pakistan.
By BBC News
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