A BOMB blew up a crowded bus in the central Pakistani province of Punjab yesterday, killing 52 people preparing to celebrate a Muslim festival, government sources said.
The attack at Phool Nagar, the new name for Bhai Pheroo town south of the provincial capital, Lahore, came on the eve of the Eid al Adha festival when public transport tends to be crowded ahead of the holiday.
Nobody claimed responsibility for the blast, which the Prime Minister. Ms Benazir Bhutto, described as "a dastardly act".
"The fact that terrorists chose the auspicious occasion of Eid alAdha for committing such a heinous act showed they had no respect even for the most pious day of Islam," Ms Bhutto said in a statement.
"The government will not compromise with terrorists and will fight them till (the) last of them is brought to book," she said.
The official APP news agency put the death toll at 52 and said 28 other people were injured by one of the most devastating bomb attacks in recent years.
Police in the area earlier said 40 to 45 people were killed and that the toll could rise.
An opposition politician from the area said he believed as many as 60 to 65 had died in the bus.
The bomb was planted in the petrol tank of the bus and the fire reduced bodies to skeletons, a bomb disposal squad official said.