At least 24 people were killed and more than 50 injured after a suicide bomb blast ripped through a railway station in Quetta, Pakistan. The incident is yet another in the region of Balochistan which has been suffering under a spate of attacks conducted by the Balochistan Liberation army (BLA). The BLA has taken responsibility for the Quetta railway blast as well.

The border regions of Pakistan have seen a surge in blasts and attacks over the years. The volatile Durand line bordering Afghanistan has been hotly contested more so now due to the Taliban coming back to power. While the province of Balochistan has been under intense pressure from the Balochistan Liberation forces, under the BLA that have been conducting strikes against Pakistan’s armed personnel.

The Attack

Quetta Division Commissioner Hamza Shafqaat confirmed the death toll which is still rising, adding that the incident was a suicide blast. The railway authorities were being directed to suspend train services, he said. According to reports from Pakistan, he also confirmed that besides civilians, “some law enforcement” personnel were also killed.

According to a list of injured people shifted to Quetta Trauma Centre and Emergency Department — issued by Managing Director Dr Arbab Kamran Kasi 53 people aged between 20 and 50 years were wounded. Six of them were stated to be in a serious condition whereas three had been shifted to an intensive care unit.

Inspector general of police for Balochistan, Mouzzam Jah Ansari, said 24 people have died from the blast so far. “The target was army personnel from the Infantry School,” he said, with many of the injured in critical condition. “So far 44 injured people have been brought to civil hospital,” Dr. Wasim Baig, a hospital spokesman, told Reuters.

Senior superintendent of police operations, Muhammad Baloch, said the blast seemed to be a suicide bomb and that investigations were underway for more information.

“The blast took place inside the railway station when the Peshawar-bound express was about to leave for its destination,” Baloch said.

Unrest in Balochistan

According to reports from Pakistan in The Dawn, the Balochistan Liberation Army has taken responsibilty of the attacks. The incident comes a week after a bomb blast near a hospital in Balochistan killed eight people. A few weeks back 20 miners were killed in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan as a group of armed men stormed a private coal mine and opened fire on the workers.

In August alone armed groups have killed over 50 people in multiple attacks, including one where 23 people were fatally shot in Balochistan. The Karachi airport blast was another shocking incident, in the ever growing list of blasts and targeted attacks in Pakistan.

Such attacks have become rather common in the volatile Balochistan region. The province has been on the boil for quite some time and the intrusive entry of the Chinese in the area has further enraged the locals. China has a big stake in the project developments in the entire area especially with the investments in the CPEC. China has been particularly incensed by Pakistan’s inabilty to contain the terror attacks.

A local group known as the Balochistan Liberation Army has been resisting these external invasions of their land. The BLA seeks independence for the entire Balochistan region. Backed by tremendous popular support from the native populace the armed BLA has been strategically targeting both the Pakistani and Chinese assets. The BLA had earlier also claimed responsibility for an attack targeting Chinese nationals near Pakistan’s largest airport in Karachi.