5 schoolchildren among 7 killed in Pakistan blast

At least seven people including five school students were killed and 23 injured in a blast in southwestern Pakistan yesterday, a police official said.

"The target was a police van which was going to pickup a polio (vaccination) team," Senior Superintendent of Police Rehmatullah told Reuters. One police officer was also among the dead, while 23 other people and officers were injured.

The explosion came from an improvised device attached to a motorcycle parked near a school for girls in the town of Mastung, he said.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack in a statement.

Pakistan is grappling with a surge in militant attacks in its northwest and a growing separatist insurgency in the south. On Tuesday, a policeman was killed in an attack on a health office that manages door-to-door polio vaccination campaigns.

The attacks have coincided with Pakistan's third nationwide polio campaign, which was launched on Monday amid a significant rise in cases of the viral disease.

Although cases dropped in 2023 to six, from 20 in 2022, the prime minister's office says there are currently 41 active cases in Pakistan.

Pakistan and Afghanistan remain the only countries where polio is endemic. Islamist militants have previously targeted polio teams, spreading false conspiracy theories that the vaccinations are part of a Western sterilization program.