Roadside bomb targeting police kills 8 people, including 5 children, in southwest Pakistan

A powerful bomb attached to a motorcycle exploded near a vehicle carrying police officers in restive southwest Pakistan on November 1, killing eight people including five nearby children and wounding 18 other people, officials said, Report informs via AP.

Local police chief Fateh Mohammad said the attack occurred in Mastung, a district in Balochistan province. He said a motorized rickshaw carrying schoolchildren was nearby when the bombing happened, resulting in the deaths of five children, a police officer and two passersby.

Sme of the wounded persons had been shifted to a hospital in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, said Wasim Baig, a spokesman for the health department. He said seven people died on the spot a man who had been critically wounded died at a hospital.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but suspicion is likely to fall on separatist groups that have stepped up attacks on security forces and civilians in recent months.