Pakistan van attack kills at least 18

At least 18 people were killed Friday in a huge blaze that erupted after gunmen opened fire on a passenger van at a petrol station in restive southwest Pakistan, officials said. 7 women and four children sitting in the van were among the dead, senior local official Abdul Mansoor Kakar told AFP, and a number of shopkeepers were killed as the inferno consumed nearby shops. Senior local official Abdul Mansoor Kakar told AFP that unknown gunmen opened fire on the van, igniting petrol drums by the roadside and triggering a massive inferno. The fire gutted nearby shops and two shopkeepers were among the dead. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. Baluchistan is one of Pakistan's most impoverished and dangerous provinces, despite having large unexploited reserves of gas and oil, and is plagued by sectarian violence as well as attacks by Taliban militants and separatist insurgents.