At least 7 people, including 5 children and a police officer, were killed and 17 others injured in an explosion in the southwestern province of Balochistan, Pakistan. Local police officials and health authorities confirmed the number of victims: the ages of the children who died were between 5 and 12 years old. The blast occurred near a girls' secondary school in the city of Mastung and was aimed at a police car, according to officer Miandad Urmani. A remote-controlled bomb placed on a motorbike was detonated near the police vehicle.
Terrorism warning
The injured victims, including 4 police officers, were transported to a nearby hospital for treatment. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the blast, which reportedly hit a vehicle carrying personnel responsible for protecting an anti-polio campaign. Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan are the only countries where polio remains endemic and vaccination teams are often targeted by militants campaigning against security forces.