24 killed in Pakistan train station bombing, police say
QUETTA, PAKISTAN—At least 24 people were killed and more than 40 injured in a bomb blast at a railway station in Quetta in southwestern Pakistan on Saturday, police and other officials told Reuters.
Pakistan is grappling with a surge in strikes by separatist ethnic militants in Balochistan province in the south and Islamist militants in its northwest. A decades-old insurgency has destabilized Balochistan and created security concerns for projects trying to access the province’s untapped resources.
Inspector general of police for Balochistan, Mouzzam Jah Ansari, said 24 people have died so far from the blast at the railway station, which is usually busy early in the day.
“The target was army personnel from the Infantry School,” he said, with many of the injured in critical condition.
Responsibility claimed
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), a separatist militant group, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement emailed to Reuters. The BLA seeks independence for Balochistan, a province of about 15 million people that borders Afghanistan to the north and Iran to the west.
