Pakistan suicide car bomb hits Army Public School bus, kills 4 children and wounds 38: Report

A suicide car bomber crashed into a school bus in Khuzdar district of Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province on 21 May, killing at least four children and injuring another 38, Associated Press reported, citing a government official.

“A bus carrying children of the APS (Army Public School) was targeted with a bomb, the nature of which is still being determined,” Yasir Iqbal Dashti, a senior local government official in Khuzdar district in Balochistan province told AFP.

He further said that the attack happened when the school bus was near Zero Point. It was taking the children to school in the city.

Pakistani Minister Condemns Attack, Condoles Deaths

In a statement, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned the attack and called the perpetrators “beasts” who deserve no leniency for attacking children. Expressing deep sorrow over the children’s deaths, he added that the enemy had committed an act of “sheer barbarism by targeting innocent children.”

No Group Claimed Responsibility Yet

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but suspicion has fallen on local separatists, as Baloch insurgents often target security forces and civilians in the region, the report noted.

Pakistan's turbulent southern province of Balochistan has seen long-standing insurgency, with an array of separatist groups staging attacks, including the outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army, designated as a terrorist organisation by the United States in 2019.

BLA's Recent Attacks

The latest attack came days after a car bombing killed four people near a market in Qillah Abdullah, a city in Balochistan province bordering Afghanistan, on 19 May. That attack had claimed at least four lives, with 12 others being injured, AFP reported, citing a security official.

Most of such attacks are claimed by BLA. In one of the deadliest such attacks in March, BLA insurgents killed 33 people, mostly soldiers, during an assault on a train carrying hundreds of passengers in Balochistan.

(With inputs from Agencies)