Dozens of people are killed in a suicide attack at a Pakistani train station

A suicide bomber blew himself up at a train station in restive southwestern Pakistan on Saturday, killing at least 24 people, including soldiers and railway staff, and wounding about 50 others, some seriously, officials said. Hamza Shafqaat, a senior government official, said the attack occurred as nearly 100 passengers were waiting for a train bound for the garrison city of Rawalpindi from Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province. Television footage showed how the steel structure of the platform roof was torn apart and a tea room was destroyed. Luggage was scattered everywhere. Police said about a dozen soldiers and six railway employees were among the dead at the station, where a passage gate was installed to check whether anyone was carrying explosives. However, there are several other entrances to the station without such security, according to the AP.

Asked about security, Shafqaat told reporters that “usually it is very difficult to stop such suicide attacks.” Shahhid Nawaz, who is in charge of security at Quetta railway station, insisted that there was no security breach as the attacker was considered Passenger was disguised and blew himself up in the middle of people. A separatist group, the Balochistan Liberation Army, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement, saying a suicide bomber had attacked troops at the train station. The outlawed BLA has long waged an insurgency seeking independence from Islamabad. A senior superintendent of police operations, Muhammad Baloch, said separatists often attacked soft targets. “When their people are arrested, they also attack in retaliation,” he said. Police said some of the seriously injured passengers died in hospital, increasing the death toll.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the bombing in a statement, saying those who staged the attack would “pay a very heavy price,” adding that security forces were determined to eliminate “the threat of terrorism.” In August, the BLA carried out several coordinated attacks on passenger buses, police and security forces across Balochistan, killing more than 50 people, mostly civilians. Oil- and mineral-rich Balochistan is Pakistan's largest but also most sparsely populated province. It is a center for the country's ethnic Baloch minority, whose members say they face discrimination and exploitation by the central government. The BLA primarily targets security forces and foreigners, particularly Chinese nationals, in Pakistan, as part of Beijing's multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative, which is working on major infrastructure projects.

(More Pakistan stories.)