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Authorities say at least 25 people have been killed after a bomb exploded at a railway station in Pakistan’s Balochistan province. <\/p>\n
Dozens of others were injured in the blast, which happened as a popular morning train was about to leave Quetta station in southwestern Pakistan for Peshawar.<\/p>\n
A militant group, the Balochistan Liberation Army, said it carried out the bombing in what police are deeming a suicide attack. <\/p>\n
There has been a recent surge in deadly attacks in the province, driven by demands for independence and control over local resources.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The city\u2019s commissioner has said that at least 25 people were killed, including the suicide bomber, and about 50 others were injured in the blast.<\/p>\n
Senior police official Muhammad Baloch said the explosion was thought to have been caused by a suicide bomber carrying 6-8kg of explosives. Among the dead and injured were both civilian and military, he told the BBC.<\/p>\n
Videos shared on social media appear to show the moment the explosion happened on Saturday morning, with dozens of people visible at the platform.<\/p>\n
There is also footage circulating of the aftermath, showing a number of injured people and debris spread across the station.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Abdul Jabbar was among the injured brought to the Civil Hospital. He said that he was entering the station, having purchased a ticket from the booking office, when the explosion happened.<\/p>\n
“I can’t describe the horror I faced today, it was like a judgement day has come,” he said.<\/p>\n
Muhammad Sohail arrived soon after the explosion had happened to catch his train to Multan.<\/p>\n
“Everything was destroyed at the station, and people were laying down on the ground screaming for help,” he said.<\/p>\n
A separatist militant group, the Baloch Liberation Army, has claimed responsibility for the attack.<\/p>\n
In a statement released on social media, the group said it targeted a Pakistan military unit that was returning from Quetta after completing a training course.<\/p>\n
The chief minister of Balochistan called the act deplorable and the perpetrators “worse than animals”. He said the authorities would pursue them and “bring them to their logical end”.<\/p>\n
The speaker of Pakistan’s National Assembly, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, condemned the blast, saying those responsible were the “enemies of humanity”.<\/p>\n
Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest province and the richest in terms of natural resources, but it is the least developed.<\/p>\n
The region shares a volatile border with Iran and Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, and also boasts a vast coastline along the Arabian Sea.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n