QUETTA: A car bomb tore into a university bus in Pakistan's insurgency-torn southwest on Monday, killing four people and wounding more than 40 others, mostly Shia students, police said.

The attack took place on the outskirts of Quetta, capital of the oil- and gas-rich province of Balochistan that borders Afghanistan and Iran.

“An improvised-explosive device planted in a car parked on the roadside exploded near the bus of the local IT university, killing four people and wounding over 40 others, mostly students,” said city police chief Mir Zubair.

“The bomb targeted the bus as it carried a majority of Shia students,” he added.

Zubair identified the dead as three students and one passer-by.

The injured were transferred to a military hospital for greater protection, said Muhammad Nawaz, a doctor at the local Civil Hospital.

There was no claim of responsibility for the latest attack.