A suicide car bomber struck a school bus in Pakistan on Wednesday, killing five people, including at least three children, and wounding 38 others, according to officials.
This is just the latest attack in Balochistan province, which has seen a long-running insurgency, with an array of separatist groups carrying out attacks, including the outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army, or BLA, which has been designated as a terror group by the U.S. in 2019.
A local deputy commissioner, Yasir Iqbal, said the attack on Wednesday happened on the outskirts of the city of Khuduzar as the bus was taking children to their military-run school in the area.
Troops quickly arrived at the scene and cordoned off the area as ambulances rushed the victims to hospitals.
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No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but ethnic Baloch separatists, who frequently target security forces and civilians in the region, are likely to be blamed.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi strongly condemned the attack and expressed deep sorrow following the children’s deaths. He also said the attackers are “beasts” who deserve no leniency and who committed an act of “sheer barbarism by targeting innocent children.”
Officials initially reported that four children were killed but later changed the death toll to say two adults were among the dead. The death toll may rise, as several children were listed in critical condition.
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The military claimed the bombing was “yet another cowardly and ghastly attack” allegedly planned by neighboring India and carried out by “its proxies in Balochistan.”
Most of the attacks in the province are claimed by the BLA, which Pakistan alleges has the back of India. However, India has denied the allegations.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed his condolences and also attributed the attack to India without providing evidence.
“The attack on a school bus by terrorists backed by India is clear proof of their hostility toward education in Balochistan,” Sharif said, saying that the government would bring the perpetrators to justice.
Pakistani officials regularly accuse India of violence in their country. The accusations have intensified amid heightened tensions between the two countries during a cross-border escalation since last month over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir. Both countries rule part of Kashmir but claim full control.
The escalation prompted fears of a broader war, and the BLA during this time appealed to India for support, although India has not commented on the appeal.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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