Blast near Gov't bus kills 21 in Pakistan
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Islamabad, June 8, IRNA -- A bomb blast near a bus of government employees killed at least 21 people, including women and children, in the northwest Pakistan on Friday, police and hospital sources said.
The bus was carrying government employees when the bomb exploded at Bela, a small town in the outskirts of Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The injured were shifted to hospital in Charsadda, a main city some 30 kilometers from Peshawar. Critical injured were shifted to Lady Reading hospital in Peshawar.
Sources in Charsadda hospital said that eight bodies were brought there. A total of 21 people were confirmed dead and nearly 20 others were injured.
Doctors said that 4 women, a child were among those killed in the deadly attack.
The bus was completely destroyed in the incident, witnesses said.
No group claimed responsibility. The government routinely blames suspected militants for such attacks.
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani strongly condemned the blast and said that terrorists targeted innocent people.
They asked the provincial authorities to hold inquiry and make efforts to arrest the culprits.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik called a report from the provincial government.
Bomb blasts in Pakistan have increased in recent days. Nearly 15 people were killed in a cycle bomb blast in the southwestern city of Quetta on Thursday.
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Islamic Republic News Agency/IRNA NewsCode: 80172744
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