Jaffer Express hit by twin blasts in Mach

QUETTA: Two explosions targeting military personnel on a passenger train killed at least six people and wounded 19 others in the Balochistan province on Friday, officials said.

The attack, claimed by the separatist Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), came as the Rawalpindi-bound Jaffer Express was passing through the town of Mach, 55 kilometres east of Quetta.

“The explosions damaged two passenger carriages and killed six people besides wounding 19 others,” senior local Pakistan Railways official Imtiaz Ahmad told AFP, updating the earlier toll of three deaths. He said the fresh toll came after railway officials finalised the list of dead and injured. It was also confirmed by a senior doctor at the local hospital Noor Baloch.

Earlier, provincial home secretary Akbar Harifal said rescue teams had been rushed to the accident site. Oil and gas rich Balochistan borders Iran and Afghanistan, and has been roiled for years by violent separatist, sectarian and Islamist insurgencies.

A spokesman for the Baloch Liberation Army said the attack had targeted “military personnel who travel to Rawalpindi by this train”.

Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif strongly condemned the incident of bomb blasts and expressed deep grief over the loss of precious lives.

The prime minister directed the authorities concerned to bring the culprits to task immediately.He stressed providing the best medical treatment to those injured during the attack.

The prime minister prayed for eternal peace of the departed souls and grant of courage to the bereaved families to bear this irreparable loss.

Chairman Pakistan People’s Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Zardari condemned twin blasts on railway track near Muchh resulting in killing of six passengers of Jaffar Express on Friday.

In a press statement the PPP chairman said that extremism and terrorism could both be tackled only through the unity of the people so that terrorists could not find any place to hide. He expressed sympathy with the families of victims and asked the government for best possible medical treatment to those injured in the blasts.