At least five Shia pilgrims were killed and several others injured when a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into the bus they were traveling in near Mastung on Tuesday.
The dead included women and children, while Levies personnel were among those injured. Police said a bus carrying pilgrims was moving towards Quetta along the Quetta-Taftan Road close to Mastung when the incident occurred.
Mastung commissioner confirmed the attack, saying 30 to 40 passengers were onboard the bus when the bomber struck.
The explosion left a number of people, including women and children and Levies men, injured, while a vehicle of the security forces was also destroyed in the attack.
Security personnel and aid workers rushed to the site after receiving the news and shifted the injured to Mastung Hospital.
The Shia Ulema Council announced three days of mourning over the killing.
Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attack so far. The oil and gas rich Balochistan borders Iran and Afghanistan and is plagued by sectarian violence, attacks by Taliban and a tribal insurgency.
Baloch rebels rose up in 2004, demanding political autonomy and a greater share of profits from the region’s mineral resources.
Bomb blasts and attacks on police and security forces are frequent in the province, and Shias have of late been the prime targets in recent acts of violence.
Balochistan has been a flashpoint for violence between majority Sunnis and Shias, who make up around 20 percent of the population.
