No fewer than 20 people have been killed and 70 others injured in an explosion targeting a train transporting military personnel in Pakistan.
The blast happened while the train was travelling through Chaman Phatak station in Quetta, the capital of the western Balochistan region, on Sunday morning.
Railway officials told BBC Urdu that three coaches and the engine were derailed while two were overturned. The shuttle service had primarily been transporting service personnel and their families who had been returning home for Eid.
The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) separatist group claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was a suicide bombing. Pakistani officials have not yet confirmed this.
“The train was moving and there were passengers on board when the explosion occurred,” Naseer Ahmed, a local resident, told the BBC.
He said that, as it had been a Sunday morning, his family had been asleep when the blast happened, shattering all his windows.
Eyewitnesses said a vehicle laden with explosives drove into the train, causing the explosion.
A police officer and civil administration official in Balochistan confirmed to BBC Urdu that 20 people had been killed, with fears the death toll could rise. Officials said three soldiers were among the dead.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the attack, saying “such cowardly acts of terrorism cannot weaken the resolve of the people of Pakistan”.
“The entire nation stands in solidarity with the people of Balochistan in this hour of grief,” he added.
