A powerful bomb has exploded near railway track in southwest Pakistan, killing at least 19 people

Volunteers look for victims from an overturned train coach on a railway track as survivors wait for transport at the site of bomb explosion, in Quatta, Pakistan. File Photo: Arshad Butt, AP News.

A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle near a railway track as a passenger train passed through the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta on Sunday, killing at least 19 people and wounding over 70 others, 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 had received the wounded, with 20 in critical condition. Three security officials told The Associated Press the bodies were transported to hospitals following the attack. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to be able to speak to the media.

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 the scene of a low-level insurgency. The insurgents have frequently targeted security forces, government installations and civilians in the province and elsewhere in the country.