At least 24 killed, 45 injured in Quetta train station bomb blast, police say

QUETTA: At least 24 people were killed and 45 injured in a bomb blast at a railway station in Quetta on Saturday, a police official told Reuters.

As per railway authorities, the Jaffar Express was scheduled to depart for Peshawar at 9 am.

“The blast took place inside the railway station when the Peshawar-bound express was about to leave for its destination,” said the senior superintendent of police operations, Muhammad Baloch.

He further said that while investigation was underway, it seemed the explosion was a suicide blast.

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Inspector general of police for Balochistan, Mouzzam Jah Ansari, said 24 people have died from the blast so far.

“The target was army personnel from the Infantry School,” he said, with many of the injured in critical condition.

Police and security forces reached the site of the incident while the injured were shifted to a nearby hospital. Authorities fear the death toll from the blast may rise.

The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), a separatist militant group, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement emailed to Reuters.

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Acting President Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani strongly condemned the bomb blast and expressed grief and sorrow over the loss of precious lives in the incident. He directed to provide immediate medical aid to the injured, as per Radio Pakistan.

Gillani said terrorists are enemies of humanity who target innocent people and reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to take all possible measures for the complete eradication of terrorism.

Moreover, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also strongly condemned the explosion and prayed for the departed souls.

The PM also sought an investigation report of the incident from the Balochistan government.

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PM Shehbaz said the terrorists who harm the lives and property of innocent people will have to pay a heavy price and reaffirmed the commitment to eradicate the menace of terrorism.

Balochistan, which borders both Iran and Afghanistan, is Pakistan’s largest province by size, but the least populated and it remains largely underdeveloped with high levels of poverty.

In August, at least 73 people were killed in Balochistan after separatist militants attacked police stations, railway lines, and highways.

The assaults in August were the most widespread in years by militants fighting a decades-long insurgency to win secession of the resource-rich southwestern province, home to major China-led projects such as a port and a gold and copper mine.