Karachi, May 24 (PTI) At least 20 people are feared dead and many injured after a powerful explosion ripped through a shuttle train in Pakistan's Balochistan province on Sunday, officials said.
The banned Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) has claimed responsibility for the blast.
The shuttle train was heading from Quetta Cantonment to the railway station in the city when it was targeted near Chaman Phatak, the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan reported.
A BLA spokesperson has said the attack was carried out as the train was transporting military personnel from the cantonment area.
While the government has officially confirmed 14 deaths so far, including three personnel of the Frontier Corps, officials say that the toll is likely to increase.
Local police officials, however, have said that 20 people are feared dead, even though some media reports have already reported a higher toll.
Pakistan's Railways Minister Hanif Abbasi has said there were civilian passengers in the shuttle train and the explosion hit the engine and three coaches.
The noise and impact of the explosion were so loud that windshields of vehicles in the area and window glasses of nearby buildings were left shattered.
A large number of passengers in the train were people looking forward to catching connecting trains to their home stations for the upcoming Eid festival, officials said.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has condemned the incident and said, "Such cowardly acts of terrorism cannot weaken the resolve of the people of Pakistan".
He further said, “We remain steadfast in our determination to eliminate terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.”
Railway authorities, according to a report in Geo News, stopped the Peshawar-bound Jaffar Express at Quetta Railway Station after the blast as a precautionary measure.
Babar Yousafzai, the spokesperson to the home ministry, said that all relevant institutions have been placed on high alert following the explosion, as he urged the public not to gather near the blast site to ensure safety and allow emergency teams to carry out rescue operations without obstruction.
The region has witnessed a few such incidents in the past several years. In November 2024, at least 32 people were killed, and scores were injured when a suicide bomber hit the Quetta Cantt Railway Station.