A suicide bombing targeting a passenger shuttle train in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province, killed at least 24 people and injured dozens more on Sunday morning, in an attack claimed by a separatist armed group. The explosion occurred near Chaman Phatak station as the train was travelling from a military cantonment toward Quetta's main railway station, carrying service personnel and their families who were heading home for the Eid holiday. A vehicle laden with explosives was driven into one of the carriages, triggering a massive blast that derailed three coaches and the locomotive, and overturned two more. Nearby cars were set ablaze and a neighbouring building was damaged. Emergency measures were declared at all major government hospitals in Quetta, with medical staff called in on an urgent basis.
The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), a separatist group seeking an independent Balochistan, claimed responsibility for the attack. The provincial government confirmed it was a vehicle-borne suicide bombing, noting that among the dead were three Frontier Corps soldiers, while the majority of victims were civilians — including pedestrians, bystanders, and residents of adjacent buildings. An entire family of four, including both parents and their two children, was among those killed. Eyewitnesses described being jolted awake by the blast, with one resident saying the explosion shattered all his windows, and others recounting scenes of screaming and chaos as people ran for shelter.
Balochistan is Pakistan's largest province by area, covering nearly 44% of the country's territory, and shares borders with Iran and Afghanistan. Despite being resource-rich, it is home to only around 5% of Pakistan's population of more than 240 million people. The BLA has long accused the federal government of exploiting the province's considerable mineral wealth without adequately benefiting local communities, and has staged repeated attacks on infrastructure, including multiple assaults on trains in recent years. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said it was "gravely alarmed" by the security situation in the province, warning of a "dangerous erosion of the state's writ" and citing a string of recent abductions and attacks on workers and law enforcement personnel.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned what he called a "heinous bomb explosion", declaring that "such cowardly acts of terrorism cannot weaken the resolve of the people of Pakistan". President Asif Ali Zardari vowed that Pakistan would "neither forget nor forgive" those responsible. Pakistani officials, including Railways Minister Hanif Abbasi and Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti, accused elements operating from India and Afghanistan of sponsoring terrorism to destabilise the country — allegations that reflect a broader pattern of official Pakistani statements on militant violence, though they were not independently verified. Senator Sherry Rehman, a former Pakistani ambassador to the United States, noted that most of the civilian victims had been women and children travelling for Eid.
Sunday's attack marks a deeply troubling escalation in violence against civilians in Balochistan. It comes just months after clashes between the BLA and Pakistani security forces left 31 civilians dead in Quetta and across the region in early February. With the death toll still potentially rising, authorities have cordoned off the blast site as the Counter-Terrorism Department and bomb disposal teams work to gather evidence.