26 killed in Pakistan rail station suicide bombing, BLA claim responsibility

A suicide bomber blew himself up at a railway station in restive southwestern Pakistan on Saturday, killing at least 26 people, including soldiers and railways staff, and wounding about 60 others, some critically, officials said.

The attack happened when nearly 100 passengers were waiting for a train to travel to the garrison city of Rawalpindi from Quetta, the capital of the restive Balochistan province, according to Hamza Shafqaat, a senior government administrator.

“Fourteen members of the army and 12 civilians were killed,” said Wasim Baig, spokesman for Quetta’s Sandeman Provincial Hospital, raising an earlier toll of 25 provided by police.

Forty-six members of the security forces and 14 civilians were wounded, the spokesman added.

A separatist group, the Balochistan Liberation Army, claimed the attack in a statement, saying a suicide bomber targeted troops present at the railway station. The outlawed BLA has long waged an insurgency seeking independence from Islamabad.

TV footage showed the steel structure of the platform’s roof blown apart and a tea stall destroyed as luggage littered the station.

Ayesha Faiz, a Quetta police official, said some of the critically wounded passengers died at a hospital, raising the deaths.