Roadside bomb targeting police kills 7 people, including 5 children, in southwest Pakistan

The police van that came under attack was taking personnel for the protection of polio staff,

Rahmat Ullah, a senior police officer, told AFP

Seven individuals: one police officer, five children, and one shopkeeper" were

senior officer Abdul Fatah told AFP

Targeting children is an act of brutality,

he said in a statement

The target was a police van which was going to pick up a polio [vaccination] team,

Senior Superintendent of Police Rahmat Ullah told the Reuters news agency

It was an IED (improvised explosive device) used in the blast, and the target apparently was a police mobile parked near the school,

Kalat Division Commissioner Naeem Bazai said

So far, seven individuals have been killed, including five school students,

he added

The primary target of the terrorists was the police vehicle, but as the explosion happened near a school, a school van which was passing by the police vehicle also got hit by the bomb,

the sources added