Islamabad, May 14 (IANS) At least seven people, including three women and a child, were killed Saturday evening when a bomb exploded in a bus in Pakistan’s Punjab province, Xinhua quoted local media as saying.

Around 20 passengers were also injured in the blast near the city of Kharian, some 35 km from Gujrat, the main city in the region.

Police said that around 50 people were on board when the blast took place.

Local TV channels reported that it was a suicide blast but the police did not confirm these reports. Eyewitnesses said a bomb was kept on the back seat of the bus.

The motive behind the bombing was unclear as civilians were targeted. No group has claimed responsibility for the blast.

Residents shifted the injured to nearby hospitals. Reports said that the bus caught fire which also spread to a nearby wheat field.

The attack comes a day after a double suicide bombing targeted cadets of a paramilitary training school in Charsadda town in the country’s northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. At least 89 people were killed in Friday’s incident.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for that attack and said it was revenge for the May 2 US raid in Pakistan that killed Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.