A bombing claimed by Pakistani separatists killed 25 people including 14 soldiers at a railway station in the southwestern Balochistan province, police said Saturday.
“Fourteen army personnel are among the 25 confirmed dead,” said Muhammad Baloch, a senior local police official, raising an earlier toll of 22 provided by the local government.
A bombing claimed by Pakistani separatists killed 25 people including 14 soldiers at a railway station in the southwestern Balochistan province, police said Saturday.
The blast hit as passengers waited on a platform at the main railway station in the provincial capital Quetta.
“Fourteen army personnel are among the 25 confirmed dead,” said Muhammad Baloch, a senior local police official, raising an earlier toll of 22 provided by the local government.
An AFP journalist saw pools of blood and ripped backpacks at the scene, where a large metal sheet protecting passengers from the elements had been blown off.
A spokesperson for a local hospital said dozens of people wounded in the blast had been brought to the facility, along with multiple dead.
Despite frequent attacks in Balochistan the toll of Saturday’s blast was particularly high for the southwestern province, which borders Afghanistan and Iran.
The train station explosion hit at around 8:45 am (0345 GMT) and was claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), one of the area’s main separatist groups.
The attack “was carried out on a Pakistani army unit at Quetta railway station… after completing a course at the Infantry School,” the BLA said in a statement.
The Associated Press of Pakistan, the official news agency, cited railway officials as saying the blast happened near the ticket booth when two trains were scheduled to depart.
