A powerful remote-controlled car bomb targeting a bus carrying Shia pilgrims killed at least 13 people here on Thursday, police said. The incident took place in Hazar Ganji area on the outskirts of Quetta city. "A bus carrying Shias was coming to Quetta from Iran when a car bomb exploded near it, killing eight people including six Shia pilgrims and two escorting policemen," senior local police official, Hamid Shakeel, told AFP.

"It was a remote controlled blast. The bomb was planted in a car and exploded as the bus passed by it," he said, adding that more than 30 people were injured in the attack. He said the engine of the car was found about 50 feet away from the site as a result of the powerful blast. Two other senior police officials confirmed the explosion and casualties. The attack comes a day after a bomb planted under a tea stall at a railway station in Sibi killed seven people, including a child, and wounded more than a dozen others.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2012