At least 24 killed in explosion at Pakistan railway station

A separatist militant group, the Baloch Liberation Army, has claimed responsibility for the attack.

In a statement released on social media, the group said it targeted a Pakistan military unit that was returning from Quetta after completing a training course.

The chief minister of Balochistan called the act deplorable and the perpetrators “worse than animals”. He said the authorities would pursue them and “bring them to their logical end”.

The speaker of Pakistan’s National Assembly, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, condemned the blast, saying those responsible were the “enemies of humanity”.

Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest province and the richest in terms of natural resources, but it is the least developed.

The region shares a volatile border with Iran and Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, and also boasts a vast coastline along the Arabian Sea.

Local groups in Pakistan and Iran are part of a decades-long struggle for greater autonomy in Balochistan.

The Pakistani province has long grappled with extensive exploitation of its resources and this has been a major catalyst for insurgency and unrest.

Locals have blamed governments for exploiting and profiting from resources while neglecting the development of the region itself.