A suicide bombing that targeted a passenger train carrying Pakistani security personnel and their families in southwestern Pakistan has claimed at least 30 lives, provincial officials said, as rescue operations continued amid the scorched wreckage in Quetta.
The outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility in a statement sent to reporters, describing the assault as a suicide bombing and saying it had targeted a train carrying security personnel. Independent verification of the claim was not possible.
More than 120 others were wounded, with many in critical condition, according to doctors at hospitals in the provincial capital. Two provincial officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose the figure, said the death toll had risen to at least 30. Pakistan’s government and military have not released an official count.
The explosive-laden car rammed into the shuttle train in the Faquir Abad area on the morning of the attack. Passengers traveling from Quetta’s army cantonment area were connecting with the Jaffar Express, bound for home towns where they planned to celebrate Eid al-Adha.
BLA Claims Responsibility
The BLA, which demands independence from Pakistan’s central government, has waged an insurgency for decades, arguing that local people are deprived of their due share of revenue from the province’s natural resources. Balochistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, is the country’s largest but least populated province and serves as a hub for the country’s ethnic Baloch minority. It is also home to major Chinese development projects and the deep-sea Gwadar port.
The U.S. State Department has designated the BLA, which is based in Afghanistan, as a foreign terrorist organization. Islamic militants also operate within the province. Pakistani officials frequently allege the BLA receives backing from India — a charge New Delhi denies.
Witnesses Describe a Deafening Blast
Area resident Aziz Khan told CBS News that crowds had gathered at the train crossing when the bomber struck. His own house, he said, “jolted from the explosion,” followed by a “huge bang, very loud.”
“Many people (were) killed on the spot due to the intensity of the explosion,” Khan said, adding that gas cylinders in cars idling near the tracks also detonated, compounding the carnage. The attack unfolded in a neighborhood where security forces are typically stationed, and the blast badly damaged several nearby buildings and smashed more than a dozen vehicles parked along the road.
The force of the explosion derailed the engine and three coaches, while two more overturned, Pakistan Federal Minister for Railways Hanif Abbasi said. Two of the cars caught fire, sending thick black smoke into the sky above the city. Images from the scene showed burnt-out vehicles, overturned bogies (train undercarriages), damaged residential buildings, and twisted metal scattered near the track.
Paramilitary soldiers and volunteers were photographed prying victims from the overturned coaches. A medical emergency was declared at hospitals across Quetta, and authorities launched an investigation that remains ongoing.
Condemnation From the Top
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif denounced the bombing as a “cowardly act of terrorism” on social media. Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti said militants had targeted “innocent civilians, including women and children,” vowing to “hunt (them down).” Provincial government spokesman Shahid Rind said terrorist elements “deserve no leniency.”
President Asif Ali Zardari said militants and their backers were seeking to undermine Pakistan’s role in regional and international peace efforts, promising that the country “will defeat terrorists, their facilitators, financiers and those providing them safe havens.”
A Pattern of Escalating Violence
The bombing was the latest in a string of strikes on trains, security forces, and infrastructure in the restive province. In March 2025, BLA militants hijacked the Jaffar Express while it carried army soldiers, taking hundreds hostage in a day-long standoff that ended with the deaths of 21 hostages, four troops, and all 33 attackers.
Earlier this year, Pakistani forces said they killed 145 militants following coordinated attacks across the province that left nearly 50 people dead. In February, coordinated suicide and gun attacks claimed by the group killed 18 civilians and 15 security personnel. A 2024 suicide bombing at a train station in the same region killed at least 26 people, including soldiers and railway staff.
For families who had boarded the shuttle to begin the Eid holiday, the journey ended in fire and twisted steel — another grim chapter in a province that has come to expect them.