You can stop updating the skeleton and then apply transforms manually.
For example:
time += Gdx.graphics.getDeltaTime();
if(!explode) {
animationName.apply(skeleton, time, time, true, null)
} else {
skeleton.findBone("bonename").setPosition(...);
}
Here I only apply an animation if the boolean explode is false, if it's true I find a bone and set the position of it manually. Keep in mind it's pseudocode.