2nd LD Writethru: Bomb hits gov't bus in NW Pakistan, killing 15 and injuring 28

At least 15 people were killed and 28 others injured when a bomb went off inside a bus carrying government employees in Pakistan's northwest Peshawar city on Wednesday, officials said.

Kashif Zulfiqar, senior superintendent police, said that the bomb was planted in the central part of the bus and was detonated with a timed device.

Mushtaq Ghani, information secretary of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province with Peshawar as its capital city, said that the blast took place at about 8:15 a.m. local time when the bus with an estimated 40 government employees working for the provincial secretariat was on its way to office from the neighboring city of Mardan, which lies about 50 km away from Peshawar.

Rescue team and security forces rushed to the site shortly after the blast occurred.

Bomb disposal squad officers said that an estimated eight kilograms of explosives were used in the bomb.

All the injured have been shifted to Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar, where hospital sources said that at least eight people were critically wounded.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif have condemned the attack and ordered the concerned authorities to provide the best possible medical treatment for the injured people.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet.

The attack took place just a day after the country confirmed death sentences to another 13 hardcore terrorists who were involved in committing heinous offences relating to terrorism. Endit