Roadside bomb kills at least 2 children and wounds 15 people in restive southwest Pakistan

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — A roadside bomb went off near a police office in restive southwestern Pakistan on Saturday, killing at least two children and wounding 15 people, authorities said.

Police officials said the wounded included policemen and passersby.

Local police official Mujirbur Rehman said some of those wounded were hospitalized in critical condition, adding that the bodies of the dead were also transported to a nearby hospital.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack that happened in Pishin, a district in Balochistan province. However, suspicion is likely to fall on separatist groups who have stepped up attacks on security forces and civilians in recent months.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi denounced the bombing in a statement and mourned the slain children, saying those behind the attack “do not deserve to be called humans.”

For years, Baluchistan has been the scene of a low-level insurgency by groups demanding independence from the central government in Islamabad. Although the government says it has quelled the insurgency, violence in the province has persisted.