At least 14 people were killed on Sunday after a bomb exploded near a passenger train in southwestern Pakistan, local officials said, in the latest outbreak of violence in a region gripped by a long-running separatist insurgency.<\/p>\n
The explosion happened around 8 a.m. local time near a railway crossing in Balochistan Province, close to Pakistan\u2019s border with Afghanistan. The area is home to numerous militant groups that have grown increasingly violent in recent years.<\/p>\n
The bomb went off as a shuttle train carrying dozens of passengers, some from a nearby military base, was on its way to the main railway station in Quetta, the provincial capital, officials said. The blast was so powerful that it derailed the locomotive and at least three coaches, with two carriages overturning, according to Pakistan\u2019s railway minister, Muhammad Hanif Abbasi.<\/p>\n
Many of the passengers were most likely traveling to visit their families ahead of Eid al-Adha, which will be celebrated on Wednesday in Pakistan. The train would have connected with the Jaffer Express, a vital 1,000-mile rail link between Quetta and Pakistan\u2019s major cities.<\/p>\n
Shahid Rind, an official with the provincial government in Balochistan, said officials had so far confirmed at least 14 deaths in the attack. A police officer and a health department official in Quetta, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the attack publicly, said that more than 20 bodies, including those of women and children, had been brought to a hospital and that over three dozen others had been injured.<\/p>\n
Police officials and Mr. Rind said preliminary investigations had suggested that a suicide attacker might have carried out the bombing, although a bomb disposal squad had yet to release its final assessment.<\/p>\n
The authorities did not say if one of the many militant groups in the region was behind the attack, but the Baloch Liberation Army, or B.L.A., one of the area\u2019s most prominent separatist organizations, released a statement claiming responsibility.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan condemned the attack in a post on social media, vowing to fight such \u201ccowardly acts of terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe remain steadfast in our determination to eliminate terrorism in all its forms and manifestations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Rescue workers and security forces, assisted by heavy machinery, were trying on Sunday to recover several survivors still trapped in the wreckage of the train.<\/p>\n
Nearby residential buildings were also damaged by the blast, residents said, and several vehicles caught fire.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was jolted awake by the sound of the explosion,\u201d said Feroz Baloch, 27, a student who lives roughly 15 miles from the site.<\/p>\n
The attack is the latest in an escalating campaign of violence<\/a> targeting security forces, state infrastructure and mining-related investments in Balochistan, a mineral-rich province that has long been at the center of tensions between separatist militants and the Pakistani state.<\/p>\n In January, the B.L.A. launched coordinated attacks on at least 18 targets across 12 locations in Balochistan, killing at least 58 people, the Pakistani authorities said.<\/p>\n This month, the group organized blockades on highways leading to parts of the region that are rich in gold and copper reserves, where China and Canada have longstanding mining interests and the Trump administration has said it would also like to invest<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Jaffer Express and the railway infrastructure supporting it have repeatedly been targeted<\/a> in recent years.<\/p>\n