Suicide Blast Targets School Bus in Balochistan, Killing Five and Injuring Dozens

At least five people, including three children, were killed and 38 others wounded on Wednesday when a suicide bomber targeted a school bus in the Khuzdar district of Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, officials and the military said.

The attack occurred near Khuzdar’s Zero Point area as the bus, affiliated with the Army Public School, was picking up students in the morning. “The school bus belonged to Army Public School as it was picking children in the morning when it was attacked by the suicide bomber,” said Yasir Iqbal Dashti, a government official in Khuzdar, speaking to Al Jazeera.

The Pakistani military issued a statement condemning the incident and accused “Indian terror proxies” of orchestrating the attack, although it did not provide evidence to support the allegation. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also condemned the attack, calling the perpetrators “terrorists working under Indian patronage,” and expressed his sympathies to the families of those affected.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi denounced the “barbaric” attack, saying, “The enemy attacked innocent children with barbarity. The attack on the school bus is a heinous conspiracy of the enemy to create instability in the country.” Authorities warned that the death toll may rise due to the severity of the injuries.

There has been no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing. However, Balochistan has long been the site of conflict between the Pakistani government and ethnic Baloch separatist groups. The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), a banned outfit that has claimed past attacks in the region, has been accused by Pakistan of receiving support from India — a claim New Delhi has consistently denied.

Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said the attack is being taken “very seriously” by Pakistan. He noted that while the BLA has typically targeted military and infrastructure, attacks on schoolchildren are rare in Balochistan, though similar incidents have occurred elsewhere in the country.

The blast follows another recent incident in Balochistan, where four people were killed in a car bombing near a market in Qillah Abdullah. In March, the BLA claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on a train in the province that killed 33 people, mostly soldiers.

In a statement earlier this week, the BLA warned of further attacks against the Pakistani army and its affiliates, stating its goal of achieving a “peaceful, prosperous and independent Balochistan.”

Pakistan’s military operates several educational institutions, including Army Public Schools, for both civilian and military families. In December 2014, the Army Public School in Peshawar was attacked by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), resulting in the deaths of more than 140 children.

Balochistan, rich in minerals and natural resources, remains a flashpoint for separatist violence, with Wednesday’s attack highlighting the continued instability in the region.