EPA
Around 100 people were at the Quetta railway station when the explosion occurred.
Police say at least 24 people have been killed after a bomb exploded at a railway station in Pakistan's Balochistan province.
Dozens of other people were injured in the explosion, which occurred as a popular morning train prepared to leave Quetta station in southwest Pakistan for Peshawar.
A militant group, the Balochistan Liberation Army, said it carried out the attack in what police say was a suicide attack.
There has recently been a surge in deadly attacks in the province, motivated by demands for independence and control of local resources.
The city commissioner said 24 people were killed and about 50 injured in the explosion.
A senior police official, Muhammad Baloch, said the explosion was believed to have been caused by a suicide bomber carrying between 6 and 8 kg of explosives. The dead and injured included civilians and military personnel, he told the BBC.
Videos shared on social media appear to show the moment the explosion occurred on Saturday morning, with dozens of people visible on the platform.
Images are also circulating of the aftermath, showing a number of injured people and debris scattered around the station.
Abdul Jabbar was among the injured taken to the civil hospital. He said he was entering the station after purchasing a ticket at the reservation office when the explosion occurred.
“I can’t describe the horror I faced today, it was like judgment day had arrived,” he said.
Muhammad Sohail arrived shortly after the blast to catch his train to Multan.
“Everything was destroyed at the station and people were lying on the ground and screaming for help,” he said.
AFP
Dozens of people waited to board the Jaffar Express, a popular morning train
A separatist militant group, the Baloch Liberation Army, claimed responsibility for the attack.
In a statement posted on social media, the group said it targeted a Pakistani military unit that was returning from Quetta after undergoing training.
The Balochistan Chief Minister called the act deplorable and its perpetrators “worse than animals”. He said authorities would pursue them and “take them to their logical end.”
Pakistan's National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq condemned the blast, saying those responsible were “enemies of humanity.”
Balochistan is Pakistan's largest province and richest in natural resources, but it is the least developed.
The region shares a volatile border with Iran and Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, and also has a vast coastline along the Arabian Sea.
Local groups in Pakistan and Iran are part of a decades-long struggle for greater autonomy in Balochistan.
The Pakistani province has long struggled with intensive exploitation of its resources, which has been a major catalyst for insurgency and unrest.
Residents accuse governments of exploiting and profiting from resources while neglecting the development of the region itself.
