Islamabad [Pakistan], May 22: At least six people have been killed in a blast targeting a school bus in the Khuzdar district of Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province, an official said.
Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti said four children, the bus driver and his assistant were killed in the attack on Wednesday.
Yasir Iqbal Dashti, a government official in Khuzdar, said at least 38 people were wounded. "The school bus belonged to Army Public School as it was picking children in the morning when it was attacked," he told Al Jazeera.
Bugti told a news conference in Quetta that 46 students were on the school bus that was hit by a "vehicle-borne Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attack" according to initial investigations.
"We have been air-lifting the critically injured children to Quetta from Khuzdar," Bugti said. He said it was "premature to confirm the nature of the attack" and that further investigations were ongoing.
Balochistan province, which is rich in minerals and natural resources, has been home to a decades-long conflict between the government and ethnic Baloch separatists, who demand secession from Pakistan. Wednesday's attack came days after a car bombing killed four people near a market in Qillah Abdullah, also in Balochistan.
Source: Qatar Tribune