By Saleem Ahmed
ISLAMABAD, May 25 (Reuters) – More than 30 people died in a suicide bombing of a train in southwestern Pakistan on Sunday, officials said on Monday, in the latest attack claimed by separatist Balochistan militants.
Two provincial officials, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to disclose the information, said on Monday the death toll had risen to more than 30.
At least 24 people were initially reported as dead on Sunday after a suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden car into the train.
The car bomb hit a shuttle train carrying Pakistani security personnel and their families in the provincial capital Quetta.
Pakistan’s government and military have not released an official death count from the attack, which was the latest in a series of strikes on trains, security forces and infrastructure.
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed the attack and described it as a suicide bombing. Reuters could not independently verify the claim.
The separatist group has been fighting for decades over the exploitation of regional resources in the mineral-rich province, saying that local people are deprived of their due share.
Balochistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, is home to Chinese development projects and the deep-sea Gwadar port.
The train was carrying passengers from Quetta’s army cantonment area to connect with the Jaffar Express as they travelled to their home towns to celebrate Eid al-Adha, another official said.
The explosion derailed the engine and three coaches, while two coaches overturned, Pakistan’s railways ministry said.
Images from the scene showed burnt-out vehicles, overturned bogies, damaged residential buildings, twisted metal and debris scattered near the railway track, with fire and smoke still rising from the wreckage.
In March last year, BLA militants hijacked the Jaffar Express carrying army soldiers, and took hundreds hostage before a military operation ended the day-long standoff, which resulted in the killing of 21 hostages, four troops and all 33 attackers.
Earlier this year, Pakistani forces said they killed 145 militants after the group carried out coordinated attacks across the province, killing nearly 50 people.
(Reporting by Saleem Ahmed in Quetta; Writing by Asif Shahzad; Editing by Alexander Smith)
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