Islamabad: At least 21 people were killed and 46 others injured on Saturday in a powerful bomb explosion at Quetta railway station in Pakistan’s Balochistan province. The banned militant outfit Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Last week, another blast had occurred in Mastung town, located close to Quetta, in which five children were among the dead. The explosion, carried out in a remote-controlled setting, had occurred near a girl’s school and a hospital in the town while officials were engaged in a polio vaccination drive process.
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Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan are the only countries where polio remains endemic and vaccination teams are frequently targeted by militants waging a campaign against security forces.
Earlier this week, two police officers guarding polio vaccinators going door-to-door in northwestern Pakistan were shot dead in an attack blamed on militants. The attack came a day after Pakistan launched a week-long drive aiming to immunise more than 45 million children over the age of five. Pakistan has seen a surge in polio cases this year, recording at least 41 so far in 2024 compared with six in 2023.
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