The prime minister of Pakistan has denounced a suspected suicide bombing at a train station in a restive part of the country that killed dozens and wounded many more earlier on November 9.
Shehbaz Sharif said in a statement that those who orchestrated the attack in Quetta in southwestern Pakistan "will pay a very heavy price for it," adding that security forces were determined to eliminate "the menace of terrorism."
Police and hospital officials told RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal that 24 people had been killed and 53 injured in the bombing.
The attack happened when nearly 100 passengers were waiting for a train to travel to the garrison city of Rawalpindi from Quetta, the capital of the restive Balochistan province, the city's police chief Mohammad Baloch told RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal.
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Deadly Blast Rocks Pakistani Train Station
The separatist group, the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) claimed the attack in a statement, saying a suicide bomber targeted troops present at the railway station. The outlawed BLA has long waged an insurgency seeking independence from Islamabad.
Police said about a dozen security forces were among those killed in the attack.
Video from the site after the attack showed the steel structure of the platform's roof blown apart and luggage strewn far and wide.
Ayesha Faiz, a Quetta police official quoted by AP, said some of the critically wounded passengers had died at a hospital, raising the death toll.
The attack came a little over a week after a powerful bomb attached to a motorcycle exploded near a vehicle carrying police officers assigned to protect polio workers in Balochistan, killing nine people including five nearby children.
The oil- and mineral-rich Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest but also least populated province. It is also a hub for the country's ethnic Baluch minority who have long accused the central authorities of discrimination and exploitation.
The Baloch Liberation Army has waged an over 20-year insurgency against the Pakistani state, carrying out mostly small-scale attacks against government forces as well as foreigners, especially Chinese nationals who are in Pakistan as part of Beijing's multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative, which is building major infrastructure projects.
Last month, BLA claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that targeted a convoy with Chinese nationals outside the Karachi airport, killing two. Since then, Beijing has asked Pakistan to ensure the safety of its citizens working on multiple projects in Balochistan and other parts of the country.