Several people have been killed and “many more” injured in a bomb blast on a railway track in Quetta, Pakistan on Sunday, the country's Prime Minister and state media said.
The state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) reported at least 16 people were killed and several others, including children and women, suffered injuries in the explosion.
It quoted police sources as saying the blast had taken place near Chaman Phatak when a passenger train was passing through the area.
Most people on board were thought to be travelling to their respective families to celebrate the Eid Al Adha holiday.
The attack was the latest in a series of strikes on trains, security forces and infrastructure in the mineral-rich province that borders Iran and Afghanistan, where Pakistan has launched counterinsurgency operations after some of the deadliest violence in years.
The separatist militant group Baloch Liberation Army, or BLA, said in a statement to media that it carried out the attack and described it as a suicide bombing. Reuters could not independently verify the claim.
Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the blast that he said “resulted in the tragic loss of innocent lives and left many others injured”.
“Such cowardly acts of terrorism cannot weaken the resolve of the people of Pakistan,” he added. “We remain steadfast in our determination to eliminate terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.”
He expressed his heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims and prayed for the swift recovery of the injured. “The entire nation stands in solidarity with the people of Balochistan in this hour of grief.”
Quetta is the provincial capital and largest city of Balochistan province, near Pakistan's border with Afghanistan.
Relief operations are under way, Pakistan Railways said in a post on X, citing Muhammad Hanif Abbasi, Federal Minister for Railways. He called the blast a terrorist attack.
