Suicide attack
Pakistan: Bomb explodes at railroad station: 22 dead
A major shock in Pakistan: at least 22 people have been killed in an explosion at a railroad station in the troubled province of Balochistan, according to police and rescue workers.
Dozens more were taken to hospital with injuries, police officials said on Saturday. The explosion occurred at around 08:45 (04:45 CET) in Quetta while passengers were waiting on the platform. The separatist group "Liberation Army of Balochistan" (BLA) claimed responsibility for the attack.
This targeted "a Pakistan Army unit returning to Punjab via the railroad station after training at the infantry school," the BLA said in a statement. "The target was army personnel of the infantry school," the Inspector General of Police in Balochistan province, Mouzzam Jah Ansari, also said. He put the number of fatalities at 24. Many of the injured were in a critical condition.
According to the police, it was not initially clear what had caused the explosion. "At first it looked as if an explosive device had been placed in an abandoned piece of luggage, but now we assume that it was a suicide attack," a local police officer told journalists.
Separatist groups fight security forces
Balochistan is located in southwest Pakistan on the border with Afghanistan and Iran and is the poorest province in the country. Separatist groups have been fighting against the security forces there for decades. Islamist groups such as the Pakistani Taliban are also active there. Armed and deadly attacks occur regularly.
The BLA is the most active armed separatist movement in the resource-rich region. In recent years, the militia has stepped up its attacks on security forces and Pakistanis from neighboring provinces.
Quetta is the capital of Balochistan province and the tenth largest city in Pakistan. It has just over one million inhabitants. Members of various ethnic groups live in the city and several languages are spoken. The Pashtuns are the largest population group.
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