QUETTA, Pakistan — Pakistan's railways suspended on Monday all train services to and from southwestern Balochistan province, where a suicide bombing at a train station over the weekend killed 26 people, including soldiers and railway personnel.
In a statement, Pakistan Railways said train services would be suspended for four days for security reasons.
The attack, claimed by the separatist Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), targeted the station in Balochistan's provincial capital Quetta on Saturday. At least 62 people were also wounded, officials said.
The provincial government also declared a three-day mourning period in solidarity with the families of the victims, and said security had been stepped up. The government also vowed to hit back "with full force" against the separatists, said Sarfraz Bugti, Balochistan's chief minister.
Bugti spoke after meeting with Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, who traveled to Quetta on Sunday to be briefed about the situation.
Naqvi's office said in a statement that authorities would "take decisive steps to crush the terrorists" and support the Balochistan government in dealing with the "scourge of terrorism."
Train services are a major part of Balochistan's economy; hundreds of people travel to and from Quetta to other parts of the country every day. Trains also transport food and other items.
Saturday's attack took place when about 100 passengers were waiting for a train to leave the Quetta station for the garrison city of Rawalpindi, police had said. In its claim of responsibility, the BLA said it targeted Pakistani troops.
The attack was the deadliest since August, when separatists killed more than 50 people in multiple coordinated attacks on passenger buses, police and security forces across Balochistan.
The oil- and mineral-rich Balochistan is Pakistan's largest province, and also its least populated. It is a hub for the South Asian country's ethnic Baloch minority, whose members say they face discrimination and exploitation by the central government.
Balochistan has for years been the scene of a long-running insurgency, with several separatist groups staging attacks, targeting mainly security forces in their quest for independence. The province also has an array of militant groups that are active there.
The separatists also target Chinese citizens working in Pakistan as part of Beijing's multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative, which has built power plants, roads, railroads and ports around the world and is a major part of China's push to play a larger role in global affairs.
Last month, a suicide bomber dispatched by BLA targeted a convoy with Chinese citizens outside the country's largest airport in the southern port city of Karachi, killing two Chinese workers and wounding eight. Authorities claim they have arrested that attack's mastermind in a raid in Balochistan.
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