PAKISTAN’S railways halted all services to and from Balochistan today after a suicide bombing at a station in the south-western province of killed 26 people.

Trains will be suspended for four days for security reasons, according to a statement by Pakistan Railways.

At least 62 people were wounded in Saturday’s attack on the station in the provincial capital Quetta, officials said.

The separatist Baloch Liberation Army admitted responsibility for the bombing.

The provincial government declared a three-day period of mourning in solidarity with the families of the victims. It said that security had been stepped up and vowed to hit back at the separatists “with full force,” according to Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti.

Mr Bugti spoke after a meeting with Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, who travelled to Quetta on Sunday to be briefed on the situation. 

Mr Naqvi’s office said in a statement that authorities would “take decisive steps to crush the terrorists” and support Balochistan’s government in dealing with the “scourge of terrorism.”

Oil- and mineral-rich Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest province but the least populated. It is a hub for the country’s ethnic Baloch minority, whose members say they face discrimination and exploitation by the central government.