26 people died in suicide attack at Pakistan railway station, BLA claimed responsibility

A suicide bomber blew himself up at a railway station in southwestern Pakistan on Saturday, killing at least 26 people, including soldiers and railway personnel, and wounding about 60, some seriously, authorities said.

The attack took place as about 100 passengers were waiting for a train from Quetta, the capital of the restive Balochistan province, to the garrison city of Rawalpindi, according to senior government official Hamza Shafqaat.

“14 army members and 12 civilians were killed,” Quetta Sandeman Provincial Hospital spokesman Wasim Baig said, adding to the death toll of 25 previously reported by police.

The spokesman stated that 46 security guards and 14 civilians were injured.

The Balochistan Liberation Army, a separatist group, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying in a statement that a suicide bomber targeted soldiers at the train station. The outlawed BLA has long been waging an insurgency seeking independence from Islamabad.

TV footage showed the steel structure of the platform’s roof crumbling and a tea stall being destroyed, with luggage strewn across the station.

Quetta police official Ayesha Faiz said that some of the seriously injured passengers died in the hospital, which increased the deaths.