At least five students were killed and over 60 injured when a powerful blast ripped through a bus near the Balochistan University of Information Technology in Quetta on Monday. The police suspect this was yet another case of target killing as a majority of the students travelling in the bus were Hazara Shias.
A large amount of explosive material had been packed into a vehicle parked near the university. The bomb was detonated with a remote controlled device as the bus approached the university compound to drop off the students, police said. So powerful was the explosion that it created a three-foot crater on the road.
Hazara Shias - easily distinguishable because of their features - are being increasingly targeted with regular frequency by sectarian outfits across the restive province. There have been earlier instances when members of the community have been pulled out of buses, identified as Hazara Shias and gunned down en masse.
