At least 26 dead in suicide bombing at train station in southwestern Pakistan

The suicide bombing in the Balochistan province of Pakistan happened as about 100 passengers were waiting for a train. Credit: AP

At least 26 people, including soldiers, have died after a suicide bomber blew himself up at a train station in Pakistan.

The attack happened on Saturday when around 100 passengers were waiting for a train in Pakistan's Balochistan region to travel to Rawalpindi city, which has a military base.

About a dozen soldiers and six railway staff are among the dead, police said. About 50 are injured, some critically.

The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), a group calling for an independent state of Balochistan, claimed responsibility for the attack in Quetta, saying they were targeting troops. Police said they are investigating this claim.

The site of the bomb explosion at railway station in Quetta, southwestern Pakistan on Saturday, 9 November. Credit: AP

Television footage showed the steel structure of the platform's roof blown apart and a tea stall destroyed as luggage littered the area.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said those who orchestrated the attack “will pay a very heavy price for it," adding that security forces were determined to eliminate “the menace of terrorism".

The attack came about a week after a bomb exploded near a vehicle carrying police officers, who were assigned to protect polio workers in Balochistan. That explosion killed nine people, including five children.

In August, the BLA carried out multiple attacks on buses, police and security forces across Balochistan, killing more than 50 people, mostly civilians.

Security officials examine the site of a bomb explosion at railway station in Quetta, southwestern Pakistan. Credit: AP

The oil and mineral-rich Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest but also least populated province.

Some members of the country’s ethnic Baloch minority say they face discrimination and exploitation by the central government in Islamabad. Islamic militants also operate in the province.

The BLA often targets security forces and foreigners, especially Chinese nationals who are in Pakistan as part of Beijing’s multibillion-dollar infrastructure-building project.

The group often demands the halting of all Chinese-funded projects and for workers to leave Pakistan.

In October, the BLA claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that targeted Chinese nationals outside the Karachi airport, killing two.

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