PESHAWAR: At least 20 people, including six women and two children, were killed and over 40 injured when a bomb exploded on a bus carrying government employees and other civilians to the suburbs of Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar on Friday.
The bus was taking lower rank government officials and 24 other passengers from Peshawar to their homes in Charsadda town.
When it reached Gul Bela village area on the outskirts of Peshawar, the bomb planted inside it went off, almost completely destroying the back half of the colorfully decorated bus.
"Since the rear of the vehicle was affected the most in the explosion, the bomb might have been planted there and detonated remotely," said provincial information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain.
Bloodied pieces of human flesh littered the seats, along with blood-stained clothes and pieces of twisted metal on the road. The dead and injured were shifted to hospitals in Peshawar and Charsadda.
Peshawar borders the country's volatile tribal belt, a stronghold of Taliban, al-Qaida and affiliated militant groups. The city has suffered more terror attacks than other parts of the country over the past five years.
The violence has dropped in recent months partly due to Pakistani military operations against the local Taliban in various parts of the tribal region. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the latest attack but the Pakistani Taliban have carried out hundreds of similar bombings across the country.
The bus was taking lower rank government officials and 24 other passengers from Peshawar to their homes in Charsadda town.
When it reached Gul Bela village area on the outskirts of Peshawar, the bomb planted inside it went off, almost completely destroying the back half of the colorfully decorated bus.
"Since the rear of the vehicle was affected the most in the explosion, the bomb might have been planted there and detonated remotely," said provincial information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain.
Bloodied pieces of human flesh littered the seats, along with blood-stained clothes and pieces of twisted metal on the road. The dead and injured were shifted to hospitals in Peshawar and Charsadda.
Peshawar borders the country's volatile tribal belt, a stronghold of Taliban, al-Qaida and affiliated militant groups. The city has suffered more terror attacks than other parts of the country over the past five years.
The violence has dropped in recent months partly due to Pakistani military operations against the local Taliban in various parts of the tribal region. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the latest attack but the Pakistani Taliban have carried out hundreds of similar bombings across the country.
