QUETTA: At least 24 people, women among them, were killed and over 41 were injured when a coach carrying pilgrims from Iran was hit by a suicide bomber in Mastung area, about 55km off here, on Tuesday.

It appears that an explosives-laden car driven by the bomber rammed into the bus but police did not confirm it and said investigation was under way.

Four security personnel escorting the bus also suffered injuries because the blast also hit two security vehicles.

“Most of the dead and injured are from Marriabad and Hazara Town in Questa but they have not been identified yet,” sources said.

The banned militant organisation, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), claimed responsibility for what it described as a suicide bombing and warned of more such attacks.

It was the second attack on Shia pilgrims in this part of Balochistan over the past three weeks; first attack took place near Quetta on the eve of New Year.

Official sources said that two coaches carrying about 100 pilgrims were coming to Quetta from Taftan, a town on the border of Iran. When they reached Derringer area in Mastung district, one of them was hit by the powerful blast.

The bus caught fire and 22 passengers were killed and 41 injured, Balochistan Home Secretary Asad Gilani said.

He said the nature of the blast could not be immediately determined.

Bomb experts were collecting evidence from the site, he said, adding that initial investigation had revealed that improvised explosive devises had been used in the attack.But some local people said an explosive-laden car had crashed into the bus, causing massive casualties.

The second bus was also hit and partially damaged, Assistant Commissioner of Mastung Shafqat Anwar Shahwani said. But passengers in the second bus remained unhurt and were escorted to Quetta by security forces.

Rescue teams and officials found limbs and bodies of some victims hanging from the roof of the bus and stuck in the wreckage, Naseer Ahmed, a witness said, adding that body parts were also found on the highway.

Rescue workers and security personnel took the injured and the bodies to different hospitals. “Two bodies and 37 injured, 10 of them women, were brought to the Combined Military Hospital in Quetta,” hospital sources said.

Some of the wounded were taken to the Bolan Medical College Hospital.

Bomb experts, who had examined the site of the blast, said in a report that explosives weighing 80 to 100kg had been used in the attack.

Sources in the Anjuman-i-Wahdatul Muslimeen said two vehicles of volunteers, escorting the coaches from Taftan, were also hit by the blast and some volunteers had been injured.

The Hazara Democratic Party has given a call for a shutter-down strike in Quetta on Wednesday and several other organisations, including the Shia Ulema Council, have announced three days of mourning.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Balochistan Governor Mohammad Khan Achakzai, Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch and Home Minister Mir Sarfaraz Bugti have condemned the attack and expressed sorrow over the loss of lives.

Meanwhile a spokesman of the LeJ identifying himself as Nooruddin called reporters and claimed responsibility for the attack. He described the assault as “Fidai”, a term used for suicide attacks, and warned of more such attacks.