Bomb attack on train in Balochistan: at least 24 killed
At least 24 people have been killed and 70 more injured in an attack on a military train in the Pakistani province of Balochistan.
Explosive attack on military train in Quetta claims dozens of victims
At least 24 people have been killed in an attack on a train in the Pakistani province of Balochistan. According to Deutsche Welle, at least 70 people were also injured in the attack.
According to a senior government official, an explosives-laden vehicle rammed the train at a railway crossing in the provincial capital Quetta. The detonation triggered a "massive explosion" according to official reports, through which at least three carriages and the locomotive were derailed.
The train was travelling from Quetta to Peshawar in the north-west of the country. On board were military personnel and their family members who wanted to travel to their home towns for the Islamic festival of sacrifice. Residents of a nearby residential building also lost their lives, as the attack site was located in a residential area. A state of emergency was declared in all public and private hospitals in the city; security forces cordoned off the area.
The separatist militia Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the suicide attack. The BLA regularly carries out attacks on trains, security forces and infrastructure in the resource-rich region, which borders Iran and Afghanistan to the west. Balochistan is Pakistan's largest and poorest province; ethnic groups there have been fighting for independence for decades.
Just in March 2025, BLA fighters had hijacked the express train "Jaffar Express" and taken hundreds of hostages. In the subsequent military operation, 21 hostages, four soldiers and all 33 attackers were killed.
The Pakistani government accuses India of supporting the violence — a claim that New Delhi rejects. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the attack and spoke of the "tragic loss of innocent lives".
Source: Deutsche Welle