Seven killed in Pakistan blast

At least seven people have been killed and five wounded after a bomb planted in a rickshaw exploded outside a school in the city of Gujrat in eastern Pakistan, police say.

Police in Gujrat, 160 kilometres (100 miles) east of the capital Islamabad, said the auto-rickshaw was parked outside a private school in the Nawabpur neighbourhood, in a thickly-populated area of the city.

Three men, a woman and three children were killed by the blast which occurred just minutes after school had finished and children were leaving, Mohammed Riaz, senior superintendent of police said.

The injured, mostly children, have been taken to a local hospital, two are said to be in a critical condition.

Unknown culprits

Educational institutions in the Punjab province are closed for their summer vacation, but Shaukat Model School, where the blast occurred is said to be a very small private establishment.

Deputy Inspector General of Police Rahim Rajput said the "blast was quite powerful... the preliminary probe says it was a plastic bomb which was planted in the rickshaw."

No group has yet admitted carrying out the attack.

"It is the most brutal act of terrorism. We are trying to arrest the culprits," Mr Riaz said.

Series of bombings

The district that Gujrat is in borders the restive Jammu area in Indian-controlled Jammu and Kashmir state.

In recent years, there has been a series of bomb explosions in Pakistan, killing and wounding scores of people.

Pakistan blames its neighbour India for carrying out acts of sabotage - a charge which India denies.