24 killed, 46 injured in Pakistan Railway Station blast

By Abdullah Zehri, Pakistan, Nov 9 (DAWN): At least 24 people were killed and 46 injured on Saturday after a suicide blast ripped through a Quetta Railway Station, the division commissioner said.

The incident comes a week after a bomb blast near a girl’s school and a hospital in Balochistan’s Mastung district killed eight people, including five children.

Pakistan, particularly the Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, has seen a sharp uptick in terrorism-related incidents over the past year.

Quetta Division Commissioner Hamza Shafqat confirmed the death toll, adding that the incident was a suicide blast.

He further said that the administration was writing a letter to the railway authorities to suspend train services.

The banned militant group Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) has claimed responsibility for the blast.

Pakistan Railways had previously announced the restoration of train services between Quetta and Peshawar from Oct 11, after a suspension of more than a month and a half.

Train services had been suspended across the country on August 26 after a key railway bridge between Kolpur and Mach was destroyed in a blast carried out by BLA as part of province-wide coordinated attacks.

Speaking to Geo News, Shafqat appealed to the public to donate blood for the wounded.

Earlier, Quetta Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Operations Mohammad Baloch told reporters that “around 100 people” were present at the site, according to footage seen by him.

He added that at the time of the blast, a Jaffar Express train was reportedly ready to depart from the platform for Peshawar.

Police and security forces had reached the site of the incident, according to a statement by Balochistan government spokesperson Shahid Rind.

Rind had said the Bomb Disposal Squad was collecting evidence from the site and a report had been sought on the incident.

An emergency was imposed in hospitals there, the government official stated, adding that the “injured were being provided with medical aid”.

Footage run by Dawn News of the incident site showed rubble at the railway station’s platform.

‘Continuation of targeting innocent people’

Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti condemned the incident, saying it was a “continuation of targeting innocent people”.

In a statement, CM Bugti said, “The terrorists’ target now are innocent people, labourers, children and women. Those targeting innocent people do not deserve mercy.”

According to the statement, the chief minister has ordered an investigation into the blast and contacted top officials in Balochistan.

CM Bugti further said: “Terrorists are not eligible to be called humans. They have fallen from humanity; they are worse than animals.”

Stating that “elements involved in various terrorist incidents” in the past have been traced, he vowed that the perpetrators behind the railway blast would be caught as well.

CM Bugti reiterated the government’s resolve to continue operations against terrorists and pursue them. “We will root out terrorism from Balochistan,” he asserted.

Rise in terrorism

In 2023, Pakistan witnessed 1,524 violence-related fatalities and 1,463 injuries from 789 terror attacks and counter-terror operations. Overall fatalities, including those of outlaws, mark a record six-year high.

Terror attacks declined by 24 per cent in September compared to August, but they witnessed surges in August and July, according to monthly security reports.

On September 25, at least two policemen were among a dozen people injured by a bomb attack that targeted a police vehicle in Quetta.

Days later, terrorists armed with automatic weapons stormed an under-construction house in Panj­gur, killing seven labourers hailing from Multan.

The next day, armed men attacked the camp of a private construction company in the Musakhel district, torching the machinery and vehicles there. No casualties were reported.

Last month, three security personnel were martyred and four others were injured in a roadside bomb blast in Balochistan’s Kalat area.