AKIPRESS.COM - A bomb blast on a train in Pakistan's restive southwestern province of Baluchistan killed at least 13 people and injured 40 others, with the death toll expected to rise, SBS reported.

The explosion occurred on Tuesday after the train had pulled to a stop at Sibi railway station, around 160 kilometers south of its destination, Quetta, the provincial capital.

Twenty-four patients, including six women and four children are in critical condition, they will be shifted to Quetta as soon as they are stable enough to travel.

Two carriages of the train caught fire after the blast, but the flames had since been put out.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but railways minister Khawaja Saad Rafique said it “could be in response to the ongoing operation” launched by paramilitary troops against separatist rebels a day before.