A roadside bomb targeting a van that was transporting the police guarding polio vaccination teams killed four children and a police officer in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan Province.
Police official Miadad Omrani, told RFE/RL that the explosion occurred near a girls’ school in the city of Mastung as a motorized rickshaw that transports children to school was passing by.
Omrani said three police officers were wounded in the blast, which appears to have been triggered by remote control.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Balochistan’s chief minister, Sarfraz Bugti, both condemned the attack and vowed to rid the country of militants.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. The mineral-rich southern province has been marred by a spate of deadly attacks on security forces and civilians in recent months.
Baluch separatist groups, such as the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), designated as a global terrorist organization by the United States, are engaged in fighting against the Pakistani government.
