At least 14 killed in Quetta shuttle train blast: Balochistan govt
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QUETTA: At least 14 people were killed and several others were injured after a blast tore through a shuttle train in Quetta on Sunday morning, the Balochistan government said. State-run APP, citing railway authorities, said the shuttle train was heading from Quetta Cantonment to the railway station when it was targeted near Chaman Phatak shortly after 8am. The nature of the explosion could not be immediately ascertained. In a statement, Shahid Rind, an aide to the chief minister on media and political affairs, said the “number of martyrs” in the blast has reached 14. These included three personnel of the Frontier Corps, he added. “We are deeply saddened and grieved by the loss of precious human lives. Terrorist elements deserve no leniency,” Rind was quoted as saying earlier by the government. Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti was personally monitoring the situation, according to the statement. A medical emergency has been declared in Quetta’s hospitals, with all doctors, paramedical staff, and medical personnel summoned to duty, it added. “The involved elements cannot escape the law,” Rind was quoted as saying, adding that the injured were being provided the best treatment facilities. Pakistan Railways said rescue trucks and a relief train were dispatched to the site to assist in emergency operations. The explosion derailed three coaches, including the locomotive, while two coaches overturned, APP reported. Security forces immediately cordoned off the area and launched a rescue operation, it added. The blast was loud enough to be heard in various distant areas of the city and caused damage to nearby houses. A fire reported to have sparked in nearby cars was controlled after intense efforts involving multiple fire brigade vehicles. One video showed about 10 vehicles, mostly small cars, charred as fire and black smoke emerged from some of them. Multiple ambulances could be seen arriving at the site in another video. Earlier footage showed huge plumes of smoke rising from