An explosion in Khuzdar on Wednesday morning targeted a school bus, martyring five people, including three children, and injuring dozens more.
“In yet another cowardly and ghastly attack planned and orchestrated by terrorist state of India and executed by its proxies in Balochistan, innocent school-going children bus was targeted today in Khuzdar,” read a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).
“After having miserably failed in the battlefield, through these most heinous and cowardly such like acts, Indian proxies have been unleashed to spread terror and unrest in Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa,” it said, confirming the martyrdom of three innocent children and two adults and the injury of multiple children.
“Having failed in the Operation Bunyanum Marsoos and being hunted by military and law enforcement agencies, these Indian terror proxies are being employed as a state tool by India to foment terrorism in Pakistan against soft targets such as innocent children and civilians,” it said, describing as “abhorrent” the use of terrorism as state policy by India’s incumbent government. This, it stressed, reflected “their low morality and disregard of basic human norms.”
The military’s media wing vowed to hunt down and bring to justice the planners, abettors and executors of this “cowardly Indian sponsored attack,” vowing that India’s heinous face would be exposed before the entire world. “Pakistan Armed Forces with support of brave Pakistani nation, stand united to uproot Indian sponsored terrorism from Pakistan in its all manifestations,” it added.
According to Khuzdar’s district administration, the injured have been shifted to CMH Khuzdar for treatment.
Condemnations
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the terrorist attack on the school bus. In a statement, he expressed deep sorrow over the martyrdom of innocent children and their teachers in the horrific incident.
Extending heartfelt sympathies to the parents of the deceased children, he directed authorities to immediately identify those responsible and ensure they are brought to justice. He further instructed urgent medical treatment on a priority basis for the injured.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi also condemned the attack and extended his sympathies to the families of the deceased children and the injured. In a statement, he said the enemy had displayed brutality and attacked innocent children, adding it was a heinous conspiracy to create instability in the country.
Vowing to foil every such conspiracy, he prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured.