Karachi: Twenty-three Shia pilgrims, including women, returning from Iran were killed today when a powerful bomb blast hit a bus in the restive Balochistan province of southwest Pakistan.
Another 32 people were injured in the blast that occurred on the Pakistan-Iran highway in Mastung district when the bus with around 50 pilgrims was coming to provincial capital Quetta.
Quetta police chief Mir Zubair Mehmood confirmed the deaths and said the injured, including women, had been taken to a military hospital.
"The powerful explosion hit the bus in Dringhar area on the highway some 50 km from Quetta," he said.
Mastung district Assistant Commissioner Shafqat Anwar told reporters that the bus caught fire after the blast.
