QUETTA (AP) – Pakistan’s railways suspended all train services yesterday to and from a restive southwestern province where a suicide bombing at a train station over the weekend killed 26 people, including soldiers and railway staff.
The train services would be suspended for four days for security reasons, according to a statement from Pakistan Railways.
The attack, claimed by the separatist Baloch Liberation Army struck the station in the city of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, on Saturday. At lest 62 people were also wounded in the bombing, officials said.
The provincial government also declared a three-day mourning period in solidarity with the families of the victims and said that security has been stepped up and vowed to hit back “with full force” against the separatists, according to the province’s chief minister Sarfraz Bugti.
Bugti spoke after meeting with Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, who traveled to Quetta on Sunday to be briefed about the situation. Naqvi’s office said in a statement that authorities would “take decisive steps to crush the terrorists” and support the local Balochistan government in dealing with the “scourge of terrorism”.
Train services are a major part of Balochistan’s economy – hundreds of people travel to and from Quetta to other parts of the country every day. Trains also transport food and other items.
