Bombing in Pakistan kills 24

Security personnel inspect the blast site after the explosion. Pic/PTI

At least 24 people were killed and 46 others injured on Saturday in a suicide bombing at a railway station in Pakistan's restive Balochistan province, officials said.

The explosion ripped through the railway station of the provincial capital Quetta as passengers gathered on the platform before the departure of the Jaffar Express, scheduled to depart for Peshawar at 9.00 am.

The suicide bomber had entered the station with luggage, the commissioner said, adding that was difficult to stop a person coming with an intention to carry out a suicide attack.

The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), an ethnic Baloch separatist group designated as a terrorist organisation, has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti condemned the attack, terming it as "a horrific act targeting innocent civilians", and ordered an immediate investigation. He vowed that those responsible would be pursued relentlessly.

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