24 killed in Pakistan railway station blast

At least 24 people were killed and 46 injured on Saturday after a suicide blast ripped through a Quetta Railway Station in Pakistan, the Quetta division commissioner said.

The incident comes a week after a bomb blast near a girl’s school and a hospital in Balochistan’s Mastung district killed eight people, including five children, reports Dawn. 

Pakistan, particularly the Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, has seen a sharp uptick in terrorism-related incidents over the past year.

Quetta Division Commissioner Hamza Shafqat confirmed the death toll, adding that the incident was a suicide blast.

He further said that the administration was writing a letter to the railway authorities to suspend train services.

The banned militant group Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) has claimed responsibility for the blast.

Pakistan Railways had previously announced the restoration of train services between Quetta and Peshawar from Oct 11, after a suspension of more than a month and a half.

Train services had been suspended across the country on August 26 after a key railway bridge between Kolpur and Mach was destroyed in a blast carried out by BLA as part of province-wide coordinated attacks.

Speaking to Geo News, Shafqat appealed to the public to donate blood for the wounded.

Earlier, Quetta Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Operations Mohammad Baloch told reporters that “around 100 people” were present at the site, according to footage seen by him.

He added that at the time of the blast, a Jaffar Express train was reportedly ready to depart from the platform for Peshawar.

Police and security forces had reached the site of the incident, according to a statement by Balochistan government spokesperson Shahid Rind.

Rind had said the Bomb Disposal Squad was collecting evidence from the site and a report had been sought on the incident.

An emergency was imposed in hospitals there, the government official stated, adding that the “injured were being provided with medical aid”.

Footage run by Dawn News of the incident site showed rubble at the railway station’s platform.

Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti condemned the incident, saying it was a “continuation of targeting innocent people”.

In a statement, CM Bugti said, “The terrorists’ target now are innocent people, labourers, children and women. Those targeting innocent people do not deserve mercy.”