Volunteers search for blast victims in the wreckage of a destroyed passenger bus following a bomb explosion in Mastung district, about 25 kilometres south of Quetta. – Photo by AFP
Volunteers search for blast victims in the wreckage of a destroyed passenger bus following a bomb explosion in Mastung district, about 25 kilometres south of Quetta. – Photo by AFP

QUETTA: A roadside bomb ripped through a passenger bus carrying Shia Muslim pilgrims in southwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing three people and wounding about a dozen, officials said.

Earlier security sources said that four people killed by the attack but Deputy commissioner Mastung confirmed the killings of two people.

Six security personnel who were assigned to provide security to the bus also received injuries.

The blast took place in Mastung district, about 25 kilometres south of Quetta, the capital of insurgency-hit Balochistan province.

“It was a roadside bomb which targeted the bus,” senior administration officer Irfan Shah told AFP.

“The bus caught fire after the blast,” he said adding that initial reports said “at least two people were killed and about a dozen wounded”.

The injured, some of them in serious condition, have been taken to hospital in Quetta.

Officials said the bus, carrying up to 40 pilgrims, was returning from Iran after taking pilgrims to Shia holy place

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Opinion

Accessing the RSF

Accessing the RSF

RSF can help catalyse private sector inves­tment encouraging investment flows, build upon institutional partnerships with MDBs, other financial institutions.

Editorial

Madressah oversight
Updated 19 Dec, 2024

Madressah oversight

Bill should be reconsidered and Directorate General of Religious Education, formed to oversee seminaries, should not be rolled back.
Kurram’s misery
Updated 19 Dec, 2024

Kurram’s misery

The state must recognise that allowing such hardship to continue undermines its basic duty to protect citizens’ well-being.
Hiking gas rates
19 Dec, 2024

Hiking gas rates

IMPLEMENTATION of a new Ogra recommendation to increase the gas prices by an average 8.7pc or Rs142.45 per mmBtu in...
Geopolitical games
Updated 18 Dec, 2024

Geopolitical games

While Assad may be gone — and not many are mourning the end of his brutal rule — Syria’s future does not look promising.
Polio’s toll
18 Dec, 2024

Polio’s toll

MONDAY’s attacks on polio workers in Karak and Bannu that martyred Constable Irfanullah and wounded two ...
Development expenditure
18 Dec, 2024

Development expenditure

PAKISTAN’S infrastructure development woes are wide and deep. The country must annually spend at least 10pc of its...