At least 24 killed in explosion at Pakistan train station

Police say at least 24 people have been killed after a bomb exploded at a train station in Pakistan’s Balochistan province.

Dozens of others were injured in the blast, which occurred as a popular morning train was about to leave Quetta station in southwestern Pakistan towards Peshawar.

A militant group, the Balochistan Liberation Army, said it carried out the bombing in what police are treating as a suicide attack.

There has been a recent increase in deadly attacks in the province, driven by calls for independence and control over local resources.

The city’s commissioner said the blast killed 24 people and injured about 50.

Senior police official Muhammad Baloch said the explosion was suspected to have been caused by a suicide bomber carrying 6 to 8 kg of explosives. The dead and injured included both civilians and soldiers, he told the BBC.

Videos shared on social media appear to show the moment the explosion occurred Saturday morning, with dozens of people visible on the platform.

Images of the aftermath are also circulating, showing a number of injured people and debris strewn across the station.

Abdul Jabbar was among the injured taken to Civil Hospital. He said he was entering the station after purchasing a ticket from the booking office when the explosion occurred.

“I cannot describe the horror I faced today, it was as if judgment day had arrived,” he said.

Muhammad Sohail arrived shortly after the explosion to catch his train to Multan.

“Everything was destroyed at the station and people were lying on the ground screaming for help,” he said.

A separatist militant group, the Baloch Liberation Army, has claimed responsibility for the attack.

In a statement on social media, the group said it targeted a Pakistani military unit returning from Quetta after completing training.

Balochistan’s chief minister called the act deplorable and the perpetrators “worse than animals”. He said authorities would pursue them and “bring them to their logical conclusion.”

Pakistan National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq condemned the blast and said those responsible were the “enemies of humanity.”

Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest province and the richest in terms of natural resources, but is the least developed.

The region shares an unstable border with Iran and Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, and also has an extensive coastline along the Arabian Sea.

Local groups in Pakistan and Iran are part of a decades-long struggle for greater autonomy in Balochistan.

The Pakistani province has long struggled with large-scale exploitation of its resources and this has been a major catalyst for insurgency and unrest.

Locals have blamed governments for exploiting and profiting from resources while neglecting the development of the region itself.