Suicide bomber kills at least 19 near passenger train in Quetta

A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle alongside a passenger train in Quetta, Pakistan, on Sunday, killing at least 19 people and wounding more than 70 others, according to officials who spoke to the Associated Press.

The blast flipped two rail cars and set them on fire, with footage circulating online showing thick black smoke rising from the scene. Doctors said 20 of the wounded were in critical condition.

The Baloch Liberation Army, an outlawed separatist group that has waged a decades-long insurgency in Balochistan province, claimed responsibility in a statement sent to reporters. The attack came just two years after a BLA suicide bomber killed at least 26 people, including soldiers, at a train station elsewhere in the province.

Balochistan provincial government spokesman Shahid Rind condemned the attack, calling for no leniency toward “terrorist elements,” and said hospitals in Quetta had declared a medical emergency. An investigation is underway.

This is a developing story.