INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
At least 24 people were killed and more than 40 injured in a bomb blast at a railway station in Quetta in southwestern Pakistan on Saturday,
police and other officials told Reuters.Pakistan is grappling with a surge in strikes by separatist ethnic militants in the south and
Islamist militants in its northwest.Inspector general of police for Balochistan, Mouzzam Jah Ansari, said 24 people have died from the blast
Wasim Baig, a hospital spokesman, told Reuters.Senior superintendent of police operations, Muhammad Baloch, said the blast seemed to be a
main railway station, which is usually busy early in the day.In August, at least 73 people were killed in Balochistan province after
separatist militants attacked police stations, railway lines and highways.The assaults in August were the most widespread in years by
militants fighting a decades-long insurgency to win secession of the resource-rich southwestern province, home to major China-led projects
such as a port and a gold and copper mine.Source: Reuters--Agencies
