The death toll from a powerful bombardment on a train station in Quetta in southwestern Pakistan has risen to 20

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — The death toll from a powerful bombardment of a train station in Quetta in Pakistan’s restive southwest rose to at least 20 on Saturday, officials said. More than forty others were also injured in the attack, some seriously.

The bomb exploded as nearly 100 passengers waited for a train traveling from Quetta, the capital of restive Balochistan province, to the garrison city of Rawalpindi, said Mohammad Baloch, a senior police officer.

A separatist group, the Balochistan Liberation Army, claimed the attack in a statement, saying a suicide bomber targeted troops present at the railway station. The banned BLA has long been waging an insurgency seeking independence from Islamabad.

Shahid Rind, a government spokesman, said the bombing appeared to have been a suicide attack but that an investigation was still underway to confirm the BLA’s claim.

TV footage showed the steel structure of the platform roof being blown apart and a tea stall destroyed as luggage was strewn everywhere.

Ayesha Faiz, a Quetta police official, said some of the seriously injured passengers died in a hospital, raising the death toll.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif denounced the bombing in a statement, saying those who orchestrated the attack “will pay a very high price for it,” adding that security forces were determined to eliminate “the menace of terrorism.”

Oil and mineral-rich Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest but least populated province. It is also a hub for the Baloch ethnic minority, whose members say they face discrimination and exploitation by the central government. In addition to separatist groups, Islamic militants are also active 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.

Last month, BLA claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on a convoy of Chinese nationals outside Karachi airport, which left two dead. 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.