Manmeet Alisher
Screen grab taken from a video showing smoke coming from the bus that Manmeet Alisher was driving ABC

A bus driver in Brisbane, Australia has died after an "incendiary device" thrown by an unnamed assailant started a fire on the vehicle just after it stopped to pick up passengers. The driver has been named as 29-year-old Manmeet Alisher, 11 passengers were also injured in the attack.

Police have ruled out suggestions that it was terrorism-related and currently think the attack was a random incident. A 48-year-old man was arrested just after the blaze was extinguished.

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It was initially thought the man had doused Alisher in petrol before setting him on fire, after Superintendent Jim Keogh relayed the story to a shocked press gathering, but now police say that a "device" was thrown.

According to the BBC, taxi driver Aguek Nyok helped passengers escape the bus as it filled with smoke by kicked down a door at the back. Superintendent Keogh said it was a "rare" incident "where there appears to be no apparent motive."

Keogh also said: "A bus driver, going about doing his business, supporting the community, has had his life taken from him in what is a senseless and needless act."

Brisbane's Lord Mayor Graham Quirk called it "a very, very sad day". Flags will be flown at half-mast on Saturday as a sign of respect.