Big shock in Pakistan: At least 22 people have been killed in an explosion at a train station in the restive province of Balochistan, according to police and rescue workers.
Dozens of others were taken to the hospital with injuries, police officials said Saturday. The explosion occurred around 8:45 a.m. (4:45 a.m. CET) in Quetta while passengers were waiting on the platform. The separatist group Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the crime.
This targeted “a unit of the Pakistan Army returning to Punjab via the railway station after training at the infantry school,” the BLA said in a statement. “The target was army personnel from the infantry school,” said Inspector General of Police in Balochistan province, Mouzzam Jah Ansari. He gave the number of dead as 24. Many of the injured are in critical condition.
According to police, it was initially unclear what the cause of the explosion was. “At first it looked like an explosive device had been planted in an abandoned piece of luggage, but now we think it was a suicide bombing,” a local police official told reporters.
Separatist groups are fighting security forces
Balochistan is located in southwestern Pakistan, on the border with Afghanistan and Iran, and is the poorest province in the country. Separatist groups have been fighting security forces there for decades. Islamist groups such as the Pakistani Taliban are also active there. Armed and deadly attacks are common.
The BLA is the most active armed separatist movement in the resource-rich region. The militia has stepped up its attacks on security forces and Pakistanis from neighboring provinces in recent years.
Quetta is the capital of Balochistan province and the tenth largest city in Pakistan. It has just over a million inhabitants. Members of different ethnic groups live in the city and several languages are spoken. The largest population group are the Pashtuns.
Source: Krone
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