ISLAMABAD — Dozens of people were killed in Pakistan following a bomb blast targeting a train transporting military personnel in the country’s southwestern province of Balochistan on Sunday in the latest major attack claimed by separatist militants, officials said..The explosion occurred as the train made its way through Chaman Phatak in the regional capital of Quetta, killing at least 24 people and injuring around 70 others, according to officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.The attack was the latest in a series of strikes on trains, security forces and infrastructure in the mineral-rich province that borders Iran and Afghanistan, where Pakistan has launched counterinsurgency operations after some of the deadliest violence in years.The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), which aims to establish an independent Balochistan, in a statement claimed responsibility for the attack, describing it as a suicide bombing.The shuttle train was carrying passengers from Quetta’s cantonment area to connect with the Jaffar Express long-distance train when the blast struck near a railway track in the provincial capital, Pakistan’s railways ministry said in a statement.The explosion derailed the engine and three coaches, while two coaches overturned, the ministry said, adding that security forces had cordoned off the area and rescue operations were under way.A senior security official told Agence France-Presse that an explosives-laden vehicle hit one of the carriages, causing a big blast in a residential area. Some of those killed were residents of a nearby apartment building.Images from the scene showed burnt-out vehicles, damaged residential buildings, twisted metal and debris scattered near the railway track, with smoke rising from the wreckage.Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the “heinous bomb explosion” in a post on X. He said “such cowardly acts of terrorism cannot weaken the resolve of the people of Pakistan”, adding that the nation stood with the people of Balochistan.”I express my heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims and pray for the swift recovery of the injured,” Sharif said.Sherry Rehman, a member of the Pakistani Senate and former ambassador to the US, also condemned the attack and said most of the victims had been women and children travelling for the Islamic festival of Eid.”The perpetrators of such atrocities should know our citizens and security forces have spines of steel,” Rehman said.In March 2025, BLA militants hijacked the Jaffar Express train, taking hundreds hostage before a military operation ended the day-long standoff. The military said 21 hostages, four troops and all 33 attackers were killed.Earlier this year, Pakistani forces killed 145 militants in a 40-hour operation after coordinated attacks across Balochistan left nearly 50 people dead, provincial officials said.
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