Several killed in Quetta shuttle train blast; Balochistan govt condemns terrorist attack

QUETTA: The Balochistan government confirmed several lives were lost after a blast tore through a shuttle train near Chaman Phatak in Quetta on Sunday morning. 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 on the provincial government’s official X account, CM’s aide Shahid Rind condemned the “targeting of innocent civilians”. “We are deeply saddened and grieved by the loss of precious human lives. Terrorist elements deserve no leniency,” he added. 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 a raging fire, with at least one train coach turned over at a short distance. The police, the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) and th