It was like ‘Judgment Day’, says victim after suicide bomber targeted passengers waiting to board express train

Quetta, Pakistan — On Saturday morning, Ikhtiar Hussain, a senior ticket inspector for the Pakistan Railways, arrived at Quetta Railway Station in the country’s Balochistan province at about 8:25 a.m. local time (03:25 GMT), ready to board a train for to start work.

Seconds later, Hussain heard a loud explosion and fell to the ground. Shrapnel from the explosion hit his right cheek, and his face began to bleed.

At least 26 people, including security personnel and civilians, were killed and dozens injured after a suicide bomber targeted passengers waiting for the Peshawar-bound Jaffar Express on Saturday morning.

Hussain, 47, survived – but with facial injuries and memories that will never fade.

“It was a sight of Judgment Day, because within seconds the people who were smiling at the station fell to the ground in a pool of blood,” Hussain told Al Jazeera from Quetta Civil Hospital, where he is receiving treatment for his injuries.

Pakistani officials confirmed it was a suicide attack. Law enforcement officials are investigating how the attacker managed to enter the station despite tight security measures at the entrance and exit gates.

An outlawed armed secessionist group, the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) (BLA), claimed responsibility for the attack.

Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and other senior political leaders condemned the attack on the unarmed passengers and vowed to punish the perpetrators.

But for many whose friends and relatives are critically ill, the government must also answer questions.

Hafiz Allah Ditta, a 32-year-old local bricklayer, had come to the station to drop off a friend who was traveling to the southern city of Bahawalpur. “When I entered platform no. 1 of the station, a loud explosion rocked the area,” Ditta recalled. His friend is now in critical care in hospital, he added.

“The police were standing at the ticket booth and searching passengers’ luggage, but the government should improve security measures at the station because we don’t understand how the suicide bomber entered the station,” Ditta said.

Balochistan province in southwestern Pakistan, which shares the border with Iran and Afghanistan, has seen an increase in violent attacks since January. The government and security forces have been battling religious armed groups such as ISIL (ISIS), Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and Baloch secessionist groups.

Last week, nine people were killed in an IED blast that targeted a police vehicle tasked with guarding polio vaccination teams in Mastung, a remote town about 52 km (32 miles) from the capital Quetta.

Commissioner Hamza Shafqat, a senior bureaucrat who heads administrative affairs in four districts, including Quetta, told reporters that CCTV footage suggested the attacker entered the station pretending to be a passenger before blowing himself up.

Muhammad Amir Rafique, 41, another railway employee who was on duty at the station, said he saw a plume of smoke and dust billowing from the platform after the powerful explosion.

“I ran to the scene, the wounded were screaming for help and bodies were lying on the floor,” he told Al Jazeera. Rafique then began helping police and rescue personnel move the injured to ambulances.