Overview
- A powerful explosion struck a shuttle/passenger train near Chaman Phatak in Quetta on Sunday, May 24, derailing multiple coaches, overturning carriages and igniting fires.
- Authorities have confirmed at least 24 dead and dozens wounded while early reports showed varying counts as hospitals in Quetta remained on emergency footing.
- The outlawed Baloch Liberation Army publicly claimed the operation and preliminary investigators and local media reported a suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive device rammed a carriage.
- Security forces cordoned the blast site, launched rescue and forensic teams, halted connecting services including the Jaffar Express, and placed institutions across the province on high alert.
- The attack fits a pattern of separatist strikes in resource-rich Balochistan that have repeatedly targeted security forces and rail lines and could prompt intensified counterinsurgency actions and tighter protection of transport routes during the Eid travel period.