26 killed in bus blast

At least 26 people, mostly women and children, were killed when a crowded bus carrying a wedding party hit an anti-tank mie in a volatile region of south western Pakistan today.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack in Dera Bugti, about 180 miles east of Quetta.

Rescuers transported the dead and injured to hospitals.

District chief Abdul Samad Lasi said most of the casualties were women and children. He blamed fighters of a local tribal militant chief, Nawab Akbar Bugti, for laying mines in the area.

Baluchistan has been wracked by bombings, rocket attacks and land mine blasts, and violence has escalated in recent months.

Ethnic Baluch tribal leaders such as Bugti are demanding increased royalties for resources extracted from the province, such as natural gas.

Tribesmen also oppose moves to establish new garrisons, which the government says are needed to bolster security in the region.

A bomb explosion killed 13 people on a bus near Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan, on February 5. There was no claim of responsibility for that attack.