Pakistan: Children among dead in Quetta bus attack

At least two children are among the 11 killed during a bus attack in Pakistan's restive city of Quetta. Police confirm it was a terrorist attack but no group has claimed responsibility for the bombing as yet.

The explosion decimated a local city bus, which was carrying nearly 40 passengers, in the provincial capital of Balochistan. Twenty-two people were injured in the attack and at least eight are in critical condition.

"It [the bomb] weighed four to five kilograms. Most of the victims were sitting at the backseats when the device exploded," an injured victim, Mohammed Idress, who has been admitted to a nearby hospital, told reporters. Since it was the last bus of the day in the area, the vehicle was overcrowded with many people travelling on the rooftop.

Chief Minister of Balochistan, Malik Baloch condemned the explosion and said the attack is a "conspiracy against durable peace in Balochistan". Baloch added it was a cowardly act against innocent civilians. Most of the victims were labourers.

Provincial authorities say the bombing was carried out to maintain a sense of fear among the public but they have not named any specific group. The province has been reeling under intense separatist violence for nearly a decade with both the government and minority communities being targeted frequently.

"This is a cowardly act that has targeted innocent people. We are fighting against terrorism here. And we will keep fighting until the last terrorist is killed," Balochistan's Interior Minister Sarfaraz Ahmed Bugti told Reuters.