Powerful bomb explodes near railway track in southwest Pakistan, wounding more than 30

QUETTA, Pakistan — A powerful bomb exploded near a railway track as a train carrying passengers passed through the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta on Sunday, wounding more than two dozen people, officials said.

The force of the explosion caused two of the train cars to overturn and catch fire, sending thick black smoke into the air, according to footage shared online.

The attack happened in an area where security forces are usually stationed, badly damaging several nearby buildings and smashing more than a dozen vehicles parked along the road, according to witnesses and images circulating on social media.

Doctors at local hospitals said they received more than 30 wounded people, several of them in critical condition.

The outlawed Baloch Liberation Army, or BLA, which demands independence from Pakistan’s central government, has claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement sent to reporters.

The militant group said it targeted a train carrying security personnel.

Quetta is the capital of insurgency-hit Balochistan province.

The oil- and mineral-rich region has long been th