QUETTA/ISLAMABAD: In a latest attempt of terrorism perpetrated by the Indian proxies in Balochistan, at least five people, including three young female students, were killed and 43 others injured in a suicide attack on a bus belonging to the Army Public School (APS) in Khuzdar on Wednesday.
The military’s media wing, Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), confirmed the attack on the APS school bus, stating that five people lost their lives — three students and two drivers.
The condition of at least a dozen of the injured is reported to be critical. Many of the victims, including female students, sustained multiple injuries, some of them serious head wounds. Among the injured are 15 girls who were on their way to school in the bus. “It was a suicide attack in which the APS bus was targeted at Zero Point in Khuzdar,” a senior police officer said.
Officials stated that the the school bus was en route to the APS campus in Khuzdar Cantonment after picking up students from various areas.
“Around 49 students—both boys and girls—along with drivers and a helper, were traveling in the bus when a powerful explosion occurred nearby, completely destroying the vehicle,” a senior Khuzdar administration official said.
According to official sources, when the bus reached Zero Point on the Quetta-Karachi National Highway it was hit.
Soon after the blast, personnel from the Pakistan Army, Frontier Corps and police rushed to the site. After cordoning off the area, they shifted the bodies and injured to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH), Khuzdar. Some of the seriously injured were later moved to CMH Quetta. A police officer mentioned that four of the injured were initially taken to District Hospital Khuzdar but were transferred to CMH Khuzdar after initial treatment.
Meanwhile, the three martyred female students have been identified as Ayesha Saleem (Class 10), Hafsa Kausar (Grade 7), and Sania Somroo (Grade 6). “They were martyred on the spot,” an official said. The two adult victims were identified as Muhammad Iqbal (driver) and Sepoy Qadeer. So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) termed the incident a “cowardly and ghastly attack” planned and orchestrated by the “terrorist state of India” and executed by its proxies in Balochistan. “Having miserably failed on the battlefield, Indian proxies have resorted to heinous and cowardly acts aimed at spreading terror and unrest in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” the statement said. “As per initial reports, three innocent children and two adults embraced martyrdom, and multiple children were injured.”
The ISPR further stated that, having failed through Operation Bunyan-um-Marsoos and under pressure from military and law enforcement agencies, Indian terror proxies were being used as a state tool to foment terrorism in Pakistan by targeting soft civilian targets such as children. “India’s use of terrorism as a state policy is abhorrent and reflects a blatant disregard for human values and norms,” the statement said. “The planners, abettors, and perpetrators of this cowardly Indian-sponsored attack will be hunted down and brought to justice. The heinous face of India will be exposed to the world.”
The Pakistan armed forces, with the full support of the brave Pakistani nation, stand united in their resolve to eliminate Indian-sponsored terrorism in all its forms.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the minister of defence, minister of interior, minister of information and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir visited Quetta to meet the injured children and other victims of the horrific attack.
The Balochistan chief minister and Quetta Corps commander briefed the visitors about the dastardly incident which led to martyrdom of three innocent children and two adults along with 53 injured, including 39 innocent children of which 8 are critical.
The prime minister, federal minister and COAS expressed deep grief over the loss of innocent lives and injuries to the innocent school going children. The visitors, seeing the badly wounded and critically injured children, termed the terrorist act through Indian sponsored proxies as a shameful and despicable deed.
The PM media wing in Quetta said: “In a reprehensible and cowardly act of terrorism, a school bus carrying innocent children was targeted on Wednesday in Khuzdar, Balochistan by state sponsored proxies (Fitna Al Hindustan) of India which the world has largely come to know as epicentre of instability in the region.”
Sequel to gross failure to intimidate Pakistan through overt military means, dastardly terrorist incidents are being orchestrated through their proxies at an intensified scale in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, deliberately targeting civilians in a futile attempt to destabilise the Pakistan, the statement added.
These terrorist groups—masquerading under ethnic pretenses—are not only being exploited by India as instruments of state policy, but also stand as a stain on the honour and values of the Baloch and Pashtun people, who have long rejected violence and extremism.
India’s reliance on such morally indefensible tactics, particularly the deliberate targeting of children, demands urgent attention from the international community. The use of terrorism as a tool of foreign policy must be unequivocally condemned and confronted.
Pakistan’s security forces and law enforcement agencies will relentlessly pursue all those involved in this barbaric act. The architects, abettors and enablers of this crime will be held accountable and brought to justice and the truth about India’s cunning role, a real perpetrator of terrorism but feigns as a victim, stands exposed before the world, the statement said.
The prime minister and COAS highlighted that it’s now time, that the nation displays a very strong resolve similar to the one shown recently against the aggression by India, to bring the fight against foreign-sponsored terrorism to its logical and decisive end.
Earlier, a ceremony scheduled to be held Wednesday evening at the Aiwan-e-Sadr in honour of Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir has been postponed at his own request due to the tragic attack in Khuzdar.
Meanwhile, the security sources said India’s political leadership and media have been backing terrorist groups like the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA).
The sources said that at least 21 training camps under the patronage of the Indian government are operational in Rajasthan state of India. “It is Modi government which in order to deviate Indian public’s attention from recent defeat, is using proxies for terror acts in Pakistan,” the sources said.
After May 10 and defeat in operation Bunyan-um-Marsoos, different media handlers of India have threatened of terrorist acts in Balochistan through sponsored and proscribed BLA. “Coward suicide attack on a school bus in Khuzdar is part of the same conspiracy,” the security sources said.
Meanwhile, President Asif Ali Zardari strongly condemned the cowardly terrorist attack on the school bus in Khuzdar, calling it an inhumane and despicable crime.
According to statement issue by the President House, Zardari said Indian-sponsored terrorist networks involved in such atrocities. He reiterated that the state of Pakistan would fully expose India’s role in sponsoring terrorism at international forums. “Terrorists targeting education and innocent lives are enemies of humanity,” he said.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the brutal terrorist attack on a school bus in Khuzdar, carried out by militants backed by India.
The prime minister expressed deep sorrow over the loss of innocent lives, including school children and their teachers, in what he described as a heinous act of violence, a PM Office news release said.
Terming the attack a blatant assault on education in Balochistan, the prime minister said targeting children was a new low in the terrorists’ campaign of violence. “By attacking a school bus, these enemies of peace have revealed their utter savagery and complete disregard for humanity,” he said.
He pledged that the masterminds and perpetrators of this attack those who target the future of Pakistan by attacking its children would be held accountable. “The entire nation stands with the families of the victims in this moment of grief,” he added.
Senate Chairman Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani also strongly condemned targeting school bus at Zero Point in Khuzdar. “This painful tragedy has saddened the whole nation,” he added.
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar also expressed his deep grief over the death of schoolchildren. “Deeply saddened by the dastardly terrorist attack by Indian proxies on a school bus in Khuzdar targeting innocent children, 3 of whom embraced martyrdom with many critically injured. While our prayers go out for the departed souls and their families, the planners & orchestrators of this heinous terrorist attack shall be brought to justice,” the DPM/FM posted on his X handle.
During the National Assembly session on Wednesday, Fateha was offered for the martyrs of the Khuzdar bus blast and other martyrs. The session was presided over by Deputy Speaker Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah.
Speaking on the floor, PPP lawmakers Shazia Marri and Nawabzada Siraj Raisani condemned the recent terrorist attacks in Balochistan and called for unity among political parties to deal with the terrorism. Marri blamed India for sponsoring terrorism and trying to destabilize Pakistan.
Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Omar Ayub Khan, in a statement, also strongly condemned the heinous terrorist attack on the school bus, saying that such acts are part of a despicable plot to create chaos in the country.
Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti condemned the attack in Khuzdar, accusing India of targeting innocent children following its “political defeat” on May 9 and 10. Addressing an emergency press conference at the CM Secretariat, Bugti vowed to avenge the victims, declaring: “I swear by the sacred blood of the martyrs—we will hunt down and eliminate every single terrorist.” He said that Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval is orchestrating terrorism in Balochistan through proxy groups.
Bugti reiterated that intelligence reports had warned of Indian-sponsored attacks in Balochistan as a distraction from India’s political embarrassment. “We never imagined children would be targeted. Ajit Doval’s ideology has sunk to such disgraceful levels,” he said.
He claimed that the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) are acting as proxies for India’s intelligence agency, RAW. “These organisations consistently target civilians—passengers, children, unarmed soldiers on leave. Today, our innocent children have been drenched in blood. The fight has reached our children, and we will retaliate without mercy,” he added.
Bugti stated that several terrorists involved in past attacks in Musa Khel, the Jaffar Express, Nushki, Khuzdar and Turbat had already been eliminated. Among them was Commander Nabeel, responsible for numerous attacks on civilians and security forces. “This is not a struggle for rights—it is India’s proxy war, funded and trained in Afghanistan and India.”
He called on Afghanistan’s interim government to honour its Doha Agreement commitments and ensure its soil is not used for cross-border terrorism. “The Taliban are known for keeping their promises. They must uphold their word,” he said.
In response to a question, Bugti said that security forces successfully intercept nine out of ten threats, though such efforts often go unnoticed. He emphasised that Balochistan requires “smart kinetic operations,” not a full-scale military campaign like in Swat. “The public must stop using soft terms like ‘disgruntled Baloch.’ These people are terrorists,” he stressed.
“The state has always acted like a mother. But now it must act as a hard state to uphold the rule of law,” he asserted.
He also noted that while hundreds of terrorists were killed or arrested last year, legal loopholes had led to their release. A new anti-terrorism law is being drafted, which will include provisions for establishing detention centers to address the issue of missing persons.
Meanwhile, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur strongly condemned the terrorist attack on the school bus in Balochistan. Gandapur stated that the entire province stands in solidarity with the grieving families, adding that targeting innocent children was a shameful and cowardly act.
Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi also strongly condemned the attack on the school bus. In a statement, the minister said: “We share the pain of the grieving families and pray for the speedy recovery of the injured.” He called the attackers “barbaric” and said they deserve no mercy. “The enemy has shown extreme cruelty by targeting innocent children. This is a shameful attempt to destabilise the country,” he added.
Federal Minister for Commerce Jam Kamal Khan also condemned the attack, and said: “The targeting of schoolchildren is a heinous crime that reflects the brutality and desperation of those who seek to destabilize our homeland.”
PPP Senator Sherry Rehman also condemned the terrorist incident, attributing it to India-sponsored terrorism. In a conversation with a local media channel, she expressed her sympathies with the children’s families, stating, ‘’We will not tolerate this act and will conduct a thorough inquiry to gather evidence; it is unacceptable.”
Sherry questioned India, demanding justification for targeting civilians, particularly children, labeling such actions as cowardly and sponsored aggression against innocent civilians.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) also condemned the attack. “Condemns all attacks against operating educational facilities, educational personnel, pupils and students. Going to school should never put any child in danger. Yet it is still the case today, in too many places of the world. This must end. #notatarget,” Unesco said in a tweet.
The United States and the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (Unicef) also condemned the attack on the school bus. In a statement issued by the US Embassy here, US Chargé d’Affaires Natalie Baker said she joined Pakistani leaders in condemning the brutal, unconscionable attack on the school bus as the murder of innocent children was beyond comprehension. “We grieve with the families who lost loved ones, and our thoughts are with those recovering,” she said. “We stand with those in Pakistan working to end this violence,” she said. Unicef in a statement said: “We extend deepest condolences to the families who have lost their children and stands in solidarity with all those affected.” It said said going to school should never be a dangerous act for any child, anywhere, yet it was the heartbreaking reality for too many children in Pakistan. Unicef said the devastating violence and needless suffering must end. “Enough is enough. Children are not, and must never be, the targets of violence,” it added.