QUETTA, March 10: At least 28 people, most of them women and children, were killed and 7 others injured on Friday morning when a tractor trailer carrying a wedding party hit an anti-tank mine near Bakar area in Dera Bugti district.

A spokesman for the provincial government, Raziq Bugti, told Dawn that the landmine victims included six men and 20 women and children who were travelling to Rakhni from Bakar area for a wedding. Most of the victims were close relatives of each other, he said.

Twenty-six passengers were killed on the spot, according to Mr Bugti. Two other persons died later while they were being taken to hospital.

The condition of at least three more persons is stated to be critical.

The tractor trailer was completely destroyed in the explosion.

The sound of the explosion was heard up to several kilometres away from the blast site, sources said.

Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Mir Mohammad Yousuf condemned the landmine blast as a “barbarian and inhuman act” and said it was against the “ethics, tribal values and traditions of the province”.

The chief minister held anti-development elements responsible for the blast.

The trailer was part of a convoy of vehicles. However, the people travelling in other vehicles remained unhurt.

Frontier Corps personnel rushed to the site and started retrieving bodies from the blast site. They also flew the injured by helicopter to medical facilities in Dera Ghazi Khan.

“The victims had nothing to do with politics, power struggle and mega projects. They were simple, decent and common folk who were going to attend a wedding in Rakhni,” he said.

He promised that the people who planted the landmine would not go unpunished and would be arrested soon. “The government will not bow down before these elements and will continue its action against them,” he said and added that all other political parties should also condemn the incident.

Jam Yousuf said the government would take all possible steps to prevent landmines from being planted in these areas and avoid such incidents in the future.

He said the latest equipment would be provided to all districts of Balochistan to clear the anti-personnel mines planted by saboteurs in troubled areas.

In reply to a question, he said the government would soon announce compensation for the victims of the blast. Responding to yet another question, he said that the government had been making all out efforts to control the situation.