At least five people, including three children, have been killed after a suicide car bombing targeted a school bus in Pakistan.
Officials report that 38 others were injured in the attack on Wednesday, May 21, in the Balochistan province in the country’s southwest.
The explosion occurred in Khuzdar city, a troubled area of Balochistan, and targeted a school bus carrying many children of military personnel, according to Yasir Dashti, a senior government official from the province.
Dashti confirmed that 38 people were wounded in the attack.
Fears are growing that the death toll may rise, as several children remain in critical condition.
“The bus was carrying Army Public School children,” said Kaleem Ullah, a police official from Khuzdar.
Mohsin Naqvi, Pakistan’s interior minister, condemned the attack, calling the perpetrators “beasts” who deserve no mercy. No group has claimed responsibility for the bombing so far.
Local deputy commissioner Yasir Iqbal said the attack occurred in Khuzdar district while the bus was transporting children to a military school.
Mr. Naqvi described the act as “sheer barbarism” for targeting innocent children.
This attack follows another car bombing days earlier that killed four people near a market in Qillah Abdullah, another city in Balochistan province near the Afghan border.
