Sectarian motive?: Two killed in Mastung bus bombing

Remote-controlled device fitted on to a motorcycle.

QUETTA:

Two people were killed and 27 others, including women and children, suffered injuries when a bomb planted on a parked motorcycle exploded in Mastung district on Monday, officials said.

The remote-controlled device went off shortly after a bus carrying pilgrims to Shia holy sites in Iran had passed by the motorcycle in the Dringarh area of Mastung, about 40 kilometres south of Quetta.

“It was a remote-controlled bomb,” senior government official Naseebullah Bazai said, adding that the police were investigating if the target was the pilgrims’ bus.

An official of the Balochistan Levies, Sanaullah, told The Express Tribune that the bomb had been planted on the road linking Quetta with Iran.

There was no claim of responsibility for the latest incident, which comes only days after 15 people were killed and 30 wounded in a bomb explosion outside a Sunni seminary in Quetta on Thursday.

“The passenger bus was en route to Naushki of Chagai district. Two passengers were killed and 27 others sustained injuries and the coach was badly damaged,” Sanaullah said, adding that the passenger coach was carrying around 60 people.

Mastung administration chief Shah Irfan confirmed the casualties and said several passengers with serious injuries had been rushed to a hospital.

“The target of the attack was not immediately clear,” he said.

The deceased and injured were taken to the District Headquarters Hospital Mastung and Bolan Medical Complex Hospital. According to medics, women and children were injured in the attack.

A case has been registered against the unidentified culprits and an investigation is under way, police officials said. (With additional input from AFP)

Published In The Express Tribune, June 12^th, 2012.