Heavily-armed gunmen attack a train in Pakistan’s restive southwestern Balochistan Province on Aug 16.
At least two passengers have been killed in an attack on a train in the restive Balochistan Province in southwest Pakistan, security sources say.
The incident took place on Friday when the train was traveling from the provincial capital Quetta to the city of Rawalpindi, near the capital Islamabad.
Pakistani security officials said heavily-armed militants fired rockets at the train in the mountainous Mach area of Balochistan’s Bolan district.
Å“We have taken two dead bodies and 24 injured to the hospital, the condition of most of the injured was critical because of excessive bleeding,” media outlets quoted a local security official as saying.
Security sources said the attackers managed to flee the scene before policemen cordoned off the area.
Police authorities and Pakistan Railways officials have launched an investigation into the deadly incident.
The attack comes at a time when the country is grappling with a growing wave of violence and militancy.
No group has yet claimed responsibility, but the Pakistani government often blames the pro-Taliban militants for similar attacks in the violence-wracked country.
Pro-Taliban militants and some Baloch insurgent groups have often carried out numerous attacks against security forces as well as civilians and managed to spread their influence in various regions of the country, despite frequent offensives by the Pakistani army.
Some Baloch militant groups say they want greater political autonomy and a share of the province’s natural resources.
Thousands of Pakistanis have lost their lives in bombings and other militant attacks since 2001, when Pakistan entered an alliance with the US in the so-called war on terror.
Thousands more have been displaced by the wave of violence and militancy sweeping across the country.
JR/KA
Republished from: Press TV