At least five people, including three children, were killed and several others injured in a suicide attack on a school bus in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province on Wednesday.

The incident occurred in the Khuzdar district when a bus carrying schoolchildren was targeted, the army said in a statement.

Calling it a “cowardly” and “ghastly” attack, the army said three children and two adults were killed and multiple other children sustained injuries.

In a statement on X, the Interior Ministry said the blast was allegedly carried out through a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), The Express Tribune newspaper reported.

Khuzdar deputy commissioner Yasir said that 38 people were injured in the blast, which occurred near the Zero Point area, the Dawn newspaper reported.

After the attack, law enforcement agency personnel reached the site to collect evidence for an investigation, Yasir said, adding that preliminary findings indicated that the attack was a suicide blast.

The bodies and those injured were taken to the Combined Military Hospital, from where those with serious injuries will be referred to medical facilities in Quetta and Karachi, he said.

Initial reports indicated that four children were killed in the blast.

Prime minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack and expressed deep sorrow over the killing of innocent children and their teachers, Geo News reported.

He also instructed authorities to identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice.

President Asif Ali Zardari also strongly condemned the attack as a human rights violation and extended condolences to the families of the victims. 

Interior minister Mohsin Naqvi also strongly condemned the explosion and said, “The beasts who target innocent children do not deserve any leniency.”

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet.

Balochistan, bordering Iran and Afghanistan, is home to a long-running violent insurgency. Baloch insurgent groups have previously carried out several attacks targeting CPEC (China–Pakistan Economic Corridor) projects.

The province has been facing unrest for about two decades due to allegations by the local ethnic Baloch groups and parties that the federal government was exploiting its mineral wealth.

Following the attack, provincial chief minister Sarfraz Bugti vowed to not only expose every terrorist operating in the province, but also “eradicate them completely”, the report said.

In a statement, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister Ali Amin Gandapur also condemned the attack.

“Targeting innocent children is an extremely shameful and cowardly act,” said Gandapur. “We stand in complete solidarity with the grieving families, and no words of condemnation are enough for such a horrific incident,” he added.

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