QUETTA: The driver of a school bus of the Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation (PMDC) was injured in a roadside bomb blast in the Hanna Sour-range coalfield area on Tuesday morning.

Sources said that the PMDC school bus was targeted when it was going back to the Sour-range area after dropping students of different educational institutions, including colleges and universities, in Quetta.

Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri has taken notice of the blast and directed the inspector general of police to take strict security measures for students’ vehicles. He said terrorists involved in the blast should be arrested as soon as possible.

The school bus carried children of PMDC employees, including engineers and other staff.

“The school bus after dropping around 80 students at different schools, colleges and universities was returning to the Sour-range area at around 7.30am when the blast occurred,” security officials said, adding that “no student was inside the vehicle at the time of the blast”.

They told Dawn that the driver received minor injuries and his helper remained unhurt.

The injured driver was taken to a nearby hospital.

Windowpanes of the bus were smashed in the blast while splinters of the explosive device damaged a portion of the bus.

After receiving information about the blast, Levies and Frontier Corps personnel rushed to the area and cordoned it off to launch a search operation. They took some suspects into custody.

“An improvised explosive device was used for the blast and the bomb was detonated by remote control,” the security officials said.

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2017