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Bomb hits train in southwest Pakistan, killing 16

A Pakistani railway official extinguished the fire after the bombing Tuesday on a train at the Sibi station. A little-known separatist group claimed responsibility for the blast.Khalid HUSSAIN/AFP/Getty Images

QUETTA, Pakistan — A bomb ripped through a railway car parked at a station in southwestern Pakistan, killing 16 people and sending flames and smoke billowing into the air, officials said.

The explosion in the town of Sibi also wounded 35 people, said district police chief Gulam Abbas Tarar.

Pakistani television stations showed images of the burning car, with flames shooting out of the windows and smoke billowing into the sky. A little-known separatist group later claimed responsibility for the bombing.

Sibi is in Baluchistan province, Pakistan’s largest region. The train was going from Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan, to Rawalpindi, which is next to the capital of Islamabad. Sibi is located about 90 miles east of Quetta.

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The bomb went off after it reached the Sibi station and passengers were boarding and disembarking from the cars, officials said.

Saad Rafiq, the federal minister for railways, told Geo TV that initial reports suggest a woman left explosives on the train car and then got off the train when it arrived at the station. The deputy commissioner of the district, Suhail-ur-Rehman, said explosives might have been concealed in luggage.

Baluchistan has been plagued by violence from various factions for years and Pakistani troops have been battling both Baluch separatists as well as sectarian groups in the area.

Later Tuesday, a spokesman for the separatist United Baluch Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the bombing and warned of more such attacks in future. The attack was in retaliation for a military operation on Monday against the group’s activists in the province, said Mureed Baluch, the spokesman.

Associated Press