USEPAA bomb exploded at a railway station in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, killing at least 24 people, police said.
The blast, which injured dozens of people, occurred as a popular morning train was about to leave for Peshawar from Quetta station in southwestern Pakistan.
The militant group Balochistan Liberation Army said it was responsible for the explosion, which police believed was a suicide attack.
The province has recently seen a surge in deadly attacks amid demands for independence and control of local resources.
The city commissioner said the explosion killed 24 people and injured about 50 others.
Senior police officer Muhammad Baloch said the blast was believed to have been caused by a suicide bomber carrying 6 to 8 kilograms of explosives. He told the BBC that civilians and military personnel were among the dead and injured.
Video shared on social media appeared to show the moment the explosion occurred on Saturday morning, with dozens of people visible on the platform.
There is also a post-disaster video circulating that shows many people injured in the station and debris scattered throughout the station.
Abdul Jabbar was one of the injured who was taken to the civil hospital. He said he was buying a ticket from the ticket office and entering the station when the explosion occurred.
“I can’t describe the horror I face today, it’s like Judgment Day has arrived,” he said.
Mohammad Sohail arrived shortly after the explosion and took a train to Multan.
“Everything in the station was destroyed, people were lying on the ground screaming for help,” he said.
AFPThe separatist militant group Balochistan Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the attack.
The group said in a statement posted on social media that it was targeting a Pakistani military unit returning from Quetta after completing a training course.
Balochistan’s chief minister called the act regrettable and the perpetrators “worse than animals.” He said authorities would pursue them and “bring them to their logical conclusion.”
Speaker of Pakistan’s National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq condemned the bombing, calling the perpetrators “enemies of humanity”.
Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest province with the richest natural resources, but it is also the least developed.
The region shares volatile borders with Iran and Taliban-controlled Afghanistan and has a vast 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 grappled with widespread extraction of resources, which has become a major catalyst for insurgency and unrest.
Locals accuse the government of exploiting and profiting from resources while neglecting to develop the area itself.
