The explosion occurred as the train was passing through the Chaman Pattak area of Quetta on its journey from Quetta to Peshawar. According to a senior official, an explosives-laden vehicle rammed one of the train’s carriages, triggering a powerful blast that derailed part of the train and caused extensive damage.

Army personnel were among those killed in the attack, while many of the wounded were transported to local hospitals for treatment. Officials said several passengers were traveling to celebrate the upcoming Eid holiday, scheduled to begin on Tuesday.

Images from the scene showed a mangled carriage lying on its side beside the tracks as rescue workers, volunteers and security personnel searched for survivors. Bloodied passengers were carried away on stretchers while armed forces secured the area and emergency teams worked through the wreckage.

Witnesses described scenes of panic following the blast. Resident Mohammad Rahim said he and his family were awakened by a loud explosion that shook nearby buildings. Another witness, Abdul Basit, said people immediately ran for cover as the force of the blast reverberated through the neighborhood.

Authorities said nearby vehicles were damaged and train windows were blown out by the explosion. A police official told AFP that investigators believe the improvised explosive device used in the attack weighed approximately 35 kilograms.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing. Police and security agencies have launched an investigation into the incident.

The attack occurred in Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province by area and one of its least developed regions. The province has long been the center of a separatist insurgency, with armed groups accusing the federal government of failing to adequately share the benefits of the region’s natural gas reserves and mineral wealth.

Security forces have faced persistent attacks in Balochistan in recent years, targeting military personnel, infrastructure and transportation networks. The province borders both Iran and Afghanistan and occupies a strategically important position along regional trade and energy corridors.

The strikes came hours after Israel issued evacuation warnings to residents of 10 villages in southern Lebanon, urging them to leave areas near locations identified by the military as Hezbollah infrastructure.
Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee said the army was compelled to act against alleged violations of the ceasefire by Hezbollah, adding that civilians were being warned in advance to reduce the risk of casualties.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported Israeli airstrikes on roughly a dozen sites across southern Lebanon, including an attack on an agricultural area that wounded several Syrian workers.
One of the most significant strikes occurred in the southern coastal city of Tyre, where a targeted attack near Hiram Hospital caused extensive damage to the medical facility.

Journalists at the scene reported shattered windows, damaged medical equipment and structural impacts throughout parts of the building.

Hospital chief executive Dr. Salman Aydibi said approximately 40 patients, including seven intensive care patients, were inside the facility when evacuation warnings were issued. Staff moved patients to safer sections of the hospital before the strike occurred.
According to Aydibi, no patients were injured, although around 30 staff members suffered minor injuries.

The hospital remained operational after the attack, though emergency services were briefly suspended while damage assessments were carried out.
The Israeli military said it had struck Hezbollah infrastructure sites in Tyre that were allegedly being used by operatives to plan and execute attacks against Israeli forces. It said precautions included advance warnings, aerial surveillance and the use of precision-guided munitions.

Israeli forces also conducted strikes in eastern Lebanon overnight. The military said it targeted an underground Hezbollah facility used for weapons production.

Separately, Jamaa Islamiya and its armed wing, Al-Fajr Forces, announced that one of their members had been killed in an Israeli strike in eastern Lebanon.

The latest attacks underscore the fragility of the ceasefire that took effect on April 17. While the agreement, backed by Washington, halted large-scale fighting, both Israel and Hezbollah have accused each other of violations, and intermittent military exchanges have continued along the border.

Under the ceasefire framework, Israel maintains the right to take action against what it describes as planned, imminent or ongoing attacks, a provision that remains a source of dispute between the two sides.

The ministry said six people were killed in a strike on the village of Deir Qanun Al-Nahr, including two members of the Risala Scouts association, one of whom also worked as a freelance photographer. A Syrian girl was also among the dead, according to the ministry.

The Risala Scouts association is affiliated with the Amal movement, a Lebanese political and military organization allied with Hezbollah.

In a separate incident earlier on Friday, the health ministry said an Israeli strike on the southern town of Hanaway killed four rescuers from the Islamic Health Committee, an organization linked to Hezbollah.
The reported fatalities underscore continuing security tensions in southern Lebanon despite a ceasefire that has largely reduced large-scale hostilities following the Israel-Hezbollah conflict.

Lebanese authorities have repeatedly reported casualties from Israeli strikes in border regions, while Israel has said it targets individuals and infrastructure it considers security threats.

The health ministry said more than 120 paramedics have been killed in Israeli attacks since March.

Carl Skau, deputy executive director of the WFP, said Afghanistan was experiencing its worst malnutrition surge on record following climate-related disasters, a deadly earthquake and the return of millions of Afghans expelled from Iran and Pakistan.“It is a nutrition crisis here in Afghanistan,” Skau told AFP during a visit to the country.

“The surge last year was the worst we’ve ever seen. It’s worse this year.”The WFP estimated in January that around five million Afghan women and children would face life-threatening levels of malnutrition in 2026 in a country of more than 40 million people.

Afghanistan’s conflict-driven border shutdown with Pakistan, which has largely halted cross-border movement for nearly eight months, combined with economic fallout linked to the Iran war, has disrupted regional supply chains and pushed up prices for fuel and essential food commodities.

“If we weren’t struggling with the supply chain, both delays and costs, we would be able to feed a million more children here in Afghanistan,” Skau said.He said thousands of tons of fortified biscuits intended for Afghan schoolchildren had originally been scheduled to transit through Pakistan before border restrictions forced the WFP to reroute supplies through Dubai and Iran.

After conflict intensified in the Middle East, the agency was compelled to redirect shipments again through seven countries, including Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, Georgia and Turkmenistan.“It’s about to arrive this week, but it’s taken months.

It cost us way more,” Skau said.Funding shortages have compounded the crisis. The WFP has secured only eight percent of its targeted funding for Afghanistan this year, limiting its ability to respond to escalating humanitarian needs.

Skau described visiting a rural clinic in eastern Afghanistan where women carrying severely malnourished children waited for hours seeking assistance, only to be turned away because aid stocks had run out.

“We did not have assistance to give them,” he said. “The desperation in the voice of these women will stay with me for a long time.”

The attack targeted troops from the Frontier Corps in southwestern Pakistan, where separatist violence has intensified in recent years amid insurgent campaigns against security forces, infrastructure projects and foreign-linked energy investments.

A senior security official told AFP that an explosive device detonated near the convoy before militants opened fire, triggering an armed confrontation.“Five soldiers were killed and another was critically wounded,” the official said.

Pakistan’s military said troops launched a follow-up operation after identifying the militants’ location.“During the operation, a group of terrorists was located and engaged by troops. During fire exchange seven terrorists were killed,” the army’s media wing said in a statement.

The Baloch Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the assault. The separatist group, designated a terrorist organization by the United States, has waged a long-running insurgency seeking greater autonomy and control over Balochistan’s natural resources.

The BLA has increasingly targeted Pakistanis from other provinces working in Balochistan as well as foreign companies involved in mining, transport and energy projects linked to regional development initiatives.

Violence in the province escalated sharply last year when separatist militants hijacked a passenger train carrying around 450 people, leading to a two-day siege that left multiple casualties.

Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest but least populated province, borders Iran and Afghanistan and remains strategically significant due to its mineral wealth and access to the Arabian Sea.

Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said claims made by Pakistani officials linking Afghanistan to the attack on a police station in Bannu were unfounded.

“The Afghan government considers the recent statements by Pakistani officials, which claimed that the attack on the police station in Bannu was planned in Afghanistan, baseless,” Mujahid said in a statement posted on X.

The response came after Pakistani authorities blamed Afghanistan-based militants for the suicide bombing and subsequent assault on a police checkpoint in Bannu, an area near Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan that has seen a resurgence of militant violence.

The attack, one of the deadliest against Pakistani security forces this year, intensified tensions between Islamabad and Kabul, which have repeatedly traded accusations over cross-border militancy.

Pakistan has accused militant groups operating from Afghan territory of orchestrating attacks inside Pakistan since the Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021.

The Taliban administration has consistently denied harboring militants targeting neighboring countries and has argued that Pakistan’s security challenges are an internal matter.

Relations between the two countries have deteriorated sharply in recent months, including military confrontations earlier this year after Pakistan launched airstrikes inside Afghanistan targeting what it described as militant hideouts.

The Taliban condemned those strikes as violations of Afghan sovereignty.

The blast struck Naurang Bazar in the Sarai Nawrang area near Bannu District, close to the Afghan border, according to emergency officials and local authorities.Witnesses described scenes of panic after the explosion tore through the busy marketplace, damaging storefronts and vehicles as residents and rescue workers rushed to evacuate the wounded.

Rescue 1122 said nine people were killed and around 30 others wounded in the attack, adding that critically injured victims had been transferred to hospitals in Bannu for treatment.Dr. Mohammad Ishaq said the hospital had received at least 37 injured patients, several of whom remained in critical condition.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing.The attack came days after a coordinated assault involving a car bomb and armed ambush on a police checkpoint in Bannu district killed 15 police officers. Pakistani authorities blamed militants operating from Afghan territory for the weekend attack and lodged a formal protest with the Taliban-led government in Kabul.

The Taliban administration said on Monday it had no immediate response to Pakistan’s allegations.Relations between the two countries have deteriorated sharply in recent months amid escalating accusations over cross-border militancy. In February, Pakistan launched airstrikes inside Afghanistan targeting what it described as militant safe havens linked to attacks on Pakistani security forces.

The Taliban government has repeatedly denied providing sanctuary to militants and maintains that Pakistan’s security crisis is an internal matter.

Northwestern Pakistan has witnessed a resurgence in militant violence since the collapse of a ceasefire between Islamabad and armed insurgent groups, with attacks increasingly targeting police, military personnel and civilian areas near the Afghan frontier.

Bahrain’s Public Prosecution said the defendants were found guilty of “supporting and endorsing Iranian terrorist attacks on the Kingdom, obtaining and broadcasting prohibited vital data, and photographing prohibited locations,” the agency reported.

Several of the convicted individuals were also fined 2,000 Bahraini dinars ($5,300), while the court ordered the permanent deportation of three defendants following completion of their prison terms.

Authorities did not publicly disclose additional details about the defendants, the alleged attacks or the timeframe of the offenses.

The convictions come amid heightened regional tensions involving Iran and Gulf Arab states, as Bahrain continues to maintain close security ties with Western allies and neighboring Gulf countries.

Bahrain has previously accused Iran-backed groups of destabilizing activities inside the kingdom, allegations Tehran has repeatedly denied.

The island nation hosts the headquarters of the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet and remains a key regional security partner for Washington amid ongoing instability across the Gulf.

James Elder, speaking on behalf of the UN children’s agency UNICEF in Geneva, said children were “paying an intolerable price” amid escalating violence and military activity across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.“Between January 2025 and today, at least one Palestinian child has been killed on average every single week,” Elder told reporters.

The remarks come amid intensified Israeli military operations in several West Bank cities and refugee camps, alongside growing displacement and humanitarian concerns in the territory.The United Nations and humanitarian agencies have repeatedly warned about the impact of prolonged conflict and security operations on civilians, particularly children, in Palestinian areas.

Israel says its operations in the West Bank target armed militants and are aimed at preventing attacks against Israeli civilians and security forces.

The latest UN comments add to mounting international scrutiny over the humanitarian consequences of the conflict as violence continues across both the West Bank and Gaza.

Bahrain’s interior ministry said in a statement that the operation stemmed from ongoing investigations into espionage activities and alleged cooperation with foreign entities.“In accordance with previous investigations carried out by the prosecutor’s office in cases of espionage on behalf of foreign entities and sympathy for Iranian aggression, the security services dismantled an organization linked to the Revolutionary Guards,” the ministry said.

The statement added that 41 individuals had been detained but provided no further details regarding their identities, nationalities or the specific accusations against them.The arrests come during a period of intensified security measures across Gulf states after Iranian attacks targeting regional infrastructure and military facilities in response to U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran.

Bahrain hosts the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet and remains one of Washington’s closest security partners in the Gulf, making it strategically significant in the wider regional confrontation.Authorities in Manama have increasingly tightened restrictions on expressions of support for Tehran since the conflict escalated earlier this year.

Last month, Bahrain revoked the citizenship of 69 people accused of publicly supporting Iran.The alleged group was accused of links to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the powerful branch of Iran’s armed forces that oversees the country’s missile programs and regional security operations.

Bahrain has long accused Iran of backing unrest and militant activity within the kingdom, allegations Tehran has repeatedly denied.The latest arrests are likely to deepen already strained relations between Gulf Arab states and Iran as diplomatic efforts continue to seek a broader regional de-escalation agreement.