Blast Kills 26 in Pakistan

A crowded bus carrying a wedding party hit a land mine on Friday near Quetta, in a volatile region of southwestern Pakistan. 26 people were killed, mainly women and children, and 7 were wounded.

Abdul Razaq Bugti, spokesman for the Baluchistan provincial government, said that it is still not known who was behind these attacks and rescuers are transporting the bodies and the injured people to the hospital.

The marriage party was going to Lakri village from Bekar, two small towns in the area. A total of 35 people were traveling the trolley; they belonged to Mesuri tribe, the opponents of antigovernment tribal leader Akbar Bugti. Members of this tribe were kicked out of the region by the Bugti tribe but they returned last month.

Abdul Samad Lasi, the district chief, blamed a local tribal militant chief for planting mines in the area. The area was flooded by bomb attacks, land mines and violence in the past months.

Ethnic Baluch tribal leaders are demanding more for the resources extracted from the province, such as natural gas. They also oppose new garrisons in Baluchistan, needed to tighten security. Previously, on February 5, a bomb exploded killing 13 people in a bus, near Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan.