At least 15 people were killed and 30 injured after a bomb targeting a bus carrying government employees exploded in Peshawar on Wednesday, police said. The bus was carrying employees of the Civil Secretariat from Mardan in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province to Peshawar for work when the blast occurred near the city’s Sunehri Masjid.
A police official told Dawn that an improvised explosive device planted inside the bus caused the blast, adding that about 8 kg of explosives were used. PTI reported another official saying that about 50 people were on board the bus at the time of the explosion. Security officials cordoned off the area, while those wounded were taken to the Lady Reading Hospital. The condition of a majority of those injured was stated to be critical.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far. Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif strongly condemned the incident, saying, "These cowardly attacks cannot shatter our unflinching resolve against terrorism."
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