Pakistan Train Station Suicide Blast kills Dozens

A suicide bombing at a train station in southwestern Pakistan on Saturday killed at least 24 people, according to a senior local government official.

Another 53 people were injured in the attack in the city of Quetta, Commissioner Hamza Shafqaat said in a statement.

“Explosion at the railway station was a suicide bombing,” the statement said.

The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), a separatist militant group active in the region, has claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement. Reports said.

The blast happened on a platform at the city’s main railway station at about 9 a.m., Senior Police Superintendent Muhammad Baloch said.

“The explosion happened when a large number of passengers were present on the platform,” he said.

Security forces have cordoned off the area, and investigations are underway. The province’s Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti has ordered an inquiry into the incident.

In a statement, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the attack.

An insurgency in Balochistan has been running for decades but has gained traction in recent years since the province’s deep-water Gwadar port was leased to China, the jewel in the crown of Beijing’s ‘Belt and Road’ infrastructure push in Pakistan.

The BLA has been responsible for the deadliest attacks in Pakistan this year, most recently in October when it targeted a convoy of Chinese engineers and investors in the city of Karachi, leaving two Chinese citizens dead.

CNN/Shakirat Sadiq