At least 26 people were killed and 62 more were wounded in a blast at a train station in Balochistan on Nov. 9.
At least 26 people were killed and 62 more were wounded in an apparent suicide bombing at a train station in southwestern Pakistan on Nov. 9.
The bombing attack happened as about 100 passengers waited for a train from Quetta to Rawalpindi, according to Quetta government official Muhammad Hamza Shafqaat.
Shafqaat issued a public
appeal on Nov. 9 seeking blood donations to help those wounded in the explosion.
Wasim Baig, a local health and law enforcement spokesman, said more than a dozen soldiers and six railway employees were among those killed in the blast.
Early reports suggest that the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA)—a terrorist group—may be responsible for the attack.
The BLA has
claimed responsibility for other recent attacks throughout Balochistan in recent months, including multiple attacks earlier this week.
The BLA is one of several Baloch ethnonationalism groups that have clashed with the Pakistani central government in recent decades, hoping to break off from the rest of the country.
Balochistan, which touches both Afghanistan and Iran, is Pakistan’s largest province by area but also its least populated. The land there is rich in oil and other minerals. Baloch separatist and Islamist militant groups are both active throughout the region.
The BLA targets mostly security forces and foreigners. The group has frequently targeted Chinese nationals who are in Pakistan as part of Beijing’s multibillion-dollar foreign development Belt and Road Initiative. The group often demands the halt of all Chinese-funded projects and for Chinese workers to leave Pakistan to avoid further attacks.
In August, the BLA carried out multiple coordinated attacks on passenger buses, police, and security forces across Balochistan, killing more than 50 people, mostly civilians.
“Terrorists are now targeting civilians, laborers, children and women, which is very sad. Terrorists who harm innocent lives do not even deserve to be called human beings and such people have fallen from the category of humanity, they are worse than animals,” Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Sarfraz Bugti said in a
statement on Nov. 9.
The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad also condemned the deadly blast.
“The U.S. Mission to Pakistan strongly condemns the November 9 bombing at a railway station in Quetta,” the embassy
stated. “We extend our deepest condolences to the victims and their families. We will continue to stand with Pakistan in preventing such acts of terrorism against civilians and soldiers.”
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
