5 killed, including 3 children after bomb hit School bus in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: At least five people, including three children, were killed and several others injured in an attack on a bus in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province on Wednesday. The incident occurred in Khuzdar district when a bus carrying schoolchildren was targeted, the army said in a statement.

Calling it a "cowardly" and "ghastly" attack, the army said three children and two adults were killed and multiple other children sustained injuries. In a statement on X, the Interior Ministry said the blast was allegedly carried out through a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), The Express Tribune newspaper reported.

Khuzdar Deputy Commissioner Yasir said that 38 people were injured in the blast, which occurred near Zero Point, the Dawn newspaper reported. Initial reports indicated that four children were killed in the blast.

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Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack on the school bus and expressed deep sorrow over the killing of innocent children and their teachers, Geo News reported. He also instructed authorities to identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi also strongly condemned the explosion.

“The beasts who target innocent children do not deserve any leniency,” Naqvi said. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet. Balochistan, bordering Iran and Afghanistan, is home to a long-running violent insurgency.

Baloch insurgent groups have previously carried out several attacks targeting CPEC projects. The province has been facing unrest for about two decades due to allegations by the local ethnic Baloch groups and parties that the federal government was exploiting its mineral wealth.