Karachi: At least four children were killed and 38 others injured on Wednesday morning when a school bus was struck by a blast in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province, according to local media reports.

The explosion occurred in the Khuzdar district, near the Zero Point area, when a suicide car bomb ramped into the bus, local authorities confirmed. Speaking to Dawn newspaper, Khuzdar Deputy Commissioner Yasir Iqbal Dashti said the bus was carrying schoolchildren when it was targeted.

Emergency services rushed to the scene, and the injured, along with the bodies of the deceased, were transported to a nearby hospital for treatment. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned the blast in strong terms. “The beasts who target innocent children do not deserve any leniency,” he said, as quoted by Dawn.