An early morning blast in Quetta, Balochistan on Saturday killed 21 people and injured 50 people. The blast occurred at Quetta Railway Station. Passengers were waiting on the platform for Jaffer Express, scheduled to leave for Peshawar at 9 AM.
A blast hit the passengers standing on the platform. Police confirmed a significant amount of people and passengers were present at the station.
Law enforcement agencies and rescue teams immediately responded to the incident and shifted the injured to the Civil Hospital Quetta. In the aftermath, an emergency was declared at the hospital, and additional medical personnel, including doctors and paramedics, were summoned to handle the crisis.
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Women and children are among the victims. According to the Medical Superintendent at Civil Hospital, 46 wounded were shifted to the hospital for immediate treatment. Police suspect the blast was a suicide, it hit when the number of passengers was high at the station.
Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti condemned the attack, ordering an immediate investigation and labeling the incident as “a horrific act targeting innocent civilians.”
Bugti added that terrorists are increasingly targeting the civilian population and that the transgressors will not go ‘unpunished’.
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Provincial government spokesperson Shahid Rind informed that police and law enforcement agencies have cordoned off the area and a bomb disposal squad searched the area. An official report on the Quetta station blast will be released soon.
Terrorism in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have surged in recent months. Several attacks have been carried out in recent months targeting civilians and security personnel.
Last week, five children were among the seven killed in an early morning blast in Mastung on Friday. Chief Minister Balochistan Sarfraz Bugti condemned the killing of the children.
Division Commissioner Kalat Naeem Bazai said that a policeman was also martyred in the incident. The injured were being treated at the Nawab Ghous Bakhsh Raisani Memorial Hospital and Mastung District Headquarters Hospital. The blast left 17 people injured. Eleven of them were later transported to the Quetta Trauma Center.
Chief Minister Balochistan had made similar claims about controlling the activities and punishing the terrorists. However, despite targeted actions against terrorists by security forces, they continue to attack civilians and security personnel.