At least 23 people were killed and 71 others injured after a bomb exploded near a railway station in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, on Sunday.
Authorities said the explosion occurred as a train was moving through the station area, sparking panic and triggering a large emergency response.
Police said early investigations suggest the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber. The separatist militant group, Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), later claimed responsibility.
Rescue teams and security personnel rushed to the scene, where evacuation and recovery efforts continued for hours. Emergency services confirmed that dozens of injured passengers were taken to nearby hospitals, while health authorities declared an emergency to handle the rising number of casualties.
Witnesses described scenes of chaos and destruction.
“I was close to the tracks when it happened,” one survivor told reporters. “The explosion was massive. I still can’t believe we made it out alive.”
Security forces cordoned off the area as bomb disposal experts began examining the site to determine the full circumstances surrounding the blast.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Qadir Qambrani said the casualty figure could rise, noting that more than 100 people were believed to have been killed or injured, though officials were still verifying the numbers.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, condemned the attack, calling it a “heinous act of terrorism” and insisting that such violence would not shake the country’s resolve.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi travelled to Quetta following the incident and chaired a security meeting with Balochistan officials. He described the attackers as “brutal” and expressed solidarity with victims and their families.
Balochistan, a resource-rich province bordering Afghanistan and Iran, has faced years of insurgency and militant violence. The BLA, which seeks greater autonomy or independence from Pakistan, has carried out several deadly attacks in the region in recent years, including suicide bombings and coordinated assaults on security forces and public infrastructure.
