Death toll rises to 24 in a powerful suicide bombing at a rail station in southwestern Pakistan

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide bomber blew himself up at a train station in restive southwestern Pakistan on Saturday, killing at least 24 people, including soldiers and railways staff, and wounding about 50 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 Balochistan province, according to Hamza Shafqaat, a senior government administrator.

TV footage showed the steel structure of the platform’s roof blown apart and a destroyed tea stall. Luggage was strewn everywhere.

Police said about a dozen soldiers and six railway employees were among the dead.

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.

A senior superintendent of police operations, Muhammad Baloch, said separatists frequently attacked soft targets.

“When their people are arrested, they also attack in retaliation. We all have to fight this war. We are resilient. Our teams are here and trying to save as many lives as we can.”

Police said some of the critically wounded passengers had died in hospital, raising the death toll.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif denounced the bombing in a statement, saying 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.”

Saturday’s assault came a little over a week after a powerful bomb attached to a motorcycle exploded near a vehicle carrying police officers assigned to protect polio workers in the