A BOMB blast apparently targeting health workers killed nine people, including five children, in Pakistan’s restive south-west today, with suspicion falling on militants who often seek to disrupt polio vaccination efforts.

The explosive device was attached to a motorcycle and exploded near a vehicle carrying police officers assigned to protect polio workers in Mastung, a district of Balochistan province, but a motorised rickshaw carrying schoolchildren was also hit by the blast.

Local police chief Fateh Mohammad confirmed that the explosion had killed five children, a police officer and two bystanders.

Some of the wounded were transferred to a hospital in Quetta, where two critically injured people died.

No group immediately admitted responsibility, but separatist groups and Pakistani Taliban factions have recently escalated attacks on security forces and civilians.

The police were en route to escort polio workers conducting a door-to-door vaccination campaign, which began on Monday as part of efforts to immunise 45 million children under the age of five following a surge in new cases.

Pakistan has reported 41 new polio cases across 71 districts this year.

The latest attack took place days after militants had attacked a health centre used in the anti-polio campaign in the north-western district of Orakzai, sparking a shoot-out that killed two police officers and three attackers.

Militants in Pakistan frequently target police and health workers during polio campaigns, claiming that vaccinations are a Western conspiracy to sterilise children.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where the spread of polio has never been stopped.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Balochistan’s Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti both denounced the bombing and vowed to continue the war against insurgents until they are eliminated from the country.