A devastating bomb attack on a school bus in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan region has claimed the lives of at least five people, including three children, and left dozens injured.
The dastardly act, which occurred near the remote town of Khuzdar, has drawn widespread condemnation and intensified concerns over the ongoing insurgency and human rights issues plaguing the volatile province.
Police officials confirmed to the BBC that the school bus was transporting approximately 40 schoolchildren when it was ripped apart by an explosion at about 07:40 local time (02:40 GMT) on Wednesday morning, just outside the town of Khuzdar.
The nature of the Balochistan school bus bombing is evident in social media images circulating, which show the charred wreckage of the large bus and numerous backpacks scattered across the scene. Three of the five confirmed fatalities are innocent children, underscoring the barbarity of the attack.
Pakistan Interior Minister Reacts to School Bus Attack
While no group has yet to claim responsibility for the Khuzdar school bus bombing, Balochistan, a turbulent province bordering Iran and Afghanistan, has long been a hotbed of separatist insurgency and has faced persistent accusations of human rights violations.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister, Mohsin Naqvi, vehemently condemned the incident as “sheer barbarism,” describing the attackers as “beasts who target children” in a deliberate attempt to destabilize the country.
In the aftermath of the school bus attack, Pakistan’s military has accused neighboring India and its alleged proxies in Balochistan of orchestrating the explosion. However, no concrete evidence has been presented to support these claims.
This accusation comes as Pakistan and India are just emerging from a tense two-week conflict ignited by a militant attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir. Pakistan has consistently denied any involvement in those Kashmir attacks, while India responded with a series of retaliatory strikes on sites within Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
Why It Matters
The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) has been designated as a terrorist organization by Pakistani authorities, as well as several Western countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States.
Pakistan’s military has also previously labeled the BLA as an “Indian proxy,” a claim that the Baloch separatist group has consistently denied.
In the same vein, Baloch activists have also leveled serious accusations against Pakistan’s security forces, alleging their own atrocities in the region. They claim that thousands of ethnic Baloch people have been forcibly disappeared by Pakistani security forces over the last two decades.
These individuals are allegedly detained without due legal process, or abducted, tortured, and killed in ongoing operations aimed at suppressing the decades-old Baloch separatist insurgency and maintaining control over the strategically important and resource-rich Balochistan province.
