A suicide bomber yesterday blew himself up at a train station in restive southwestern Pakistan, killing at least 24 people, including security officers, and wounding about 50 others, some critically, officials said.
The attack happened when about 100 passengers were waiting for a train to travel to the garrison city of Rawalpindi from Quetta, the capital of the restive Balochistan Province, senior government administrator Hamza Shafqaat said.
A separatist group, the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), claimed the attack in a statement, saying a suicide bomber targeted troops present at the railway station.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The outlawed BLA has long waged an insurgency seeking independence from Islamabad.
Police said about a dozen security forces were also among the dead.
TV footage showed the steel structure of the platform’s roof blown apart and a tea stall destroyed as luggage littered the place.
Quetta police official Ayesha Faiz said some of the critically wounded passengers died at a hospital, raising the deaths.
Pakistani government spokesman Shahid Rind said all the wounded were transported to hospitals for treatment.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif denounced the bombing in a statement, saying those who orchestrated the attack “will pay a very heavy price for it,” adding that security forces were determined to eliminate “the menace of terrorism.”
The attack came a little over a week after a powerful bomb attached to a motorcycle exploded near a vehicle carrying police officers assigned to protect polio workers in Balochistan, killing nine people, including five nearby children.
The oil- and mineral-rich Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest but also least populated province. It is also a hub for the country’s ethnic Baloch minority whose members say they face discrimination and exploitation by the central government. Along with separatist groups, Islamic militants also operate in the province.
BLA often targets security forces and foreigners, especially Chinese nationals who are in Pakistan as part of Beijing’s multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative, which is building major infrastructure projects. The group often demands the halt of all Chinese-funded projects and for workers to leave Pakistan to avoid further attacks.
Last month, BLA claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that targeted a convoy with Chinese nationals outside the Karachi airport, killing two. Since then, Beijing has asked Pakistan to ensure the safety of its citizens working on multiple projects in Balochistan and other parts of the country.
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