Latest news with #suicideattack
Sky News
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Sky News
Pakistan's PM Shehbaz Sharif blames India after school bus attack leaves five dead
Pakistan's prime minister has blamed India after five people - including at least three children - were killed when a suicide car bomber targeted an army school bus. The attack in Khuzdar, in the southwestern region of Balochistan, took place while the bus was carrying around 40 children to school. The incident also left 38 other people injured, with several children in critical condition, officials said. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif directly blamed India for Wednesday morning's attack without providing any evidence. He said: "The attack on a school bus by terrorists backed by India is clear proof of their hostility toward education in Balochistan." Pakistan's military said the bombing was "yet another cowardly and ghastly attack" and alleged it had been planned by India and carried out by "its proxies in Balochistan". Interior minister Mohsin Naqvi strongly condemned the attack and expressed deep sorrow over the children's deaths. He called the perpetrators "beasts" who deserve no leniency, calling the attack an act of "sheer barbarism by targeting innocent children". India's foreign ministry said it "rejects the baseless allegations" made by Pakistan. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but suspicion is likely to fall on ethnic separatists. The attack comes days after a car bombing killed four people near a market in Qillah Abdullah, a city in Balochistan bordering Afghanistan. 2:19 Balochistan has been the scene of a long-running insurgency, with an array of separatist groups staging attacks. They include the outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), designated as a terrorist organisation by the US in 2019 and which Pakistan claims has the backing of India. Earlier this week, the BLA vowed more attacks on the "Pakistani army and its collaborators" and says it wants to "lay the foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and independent Balochistan". Tensions have increased between India and Pakistan amid a cross-border escalation over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, with the nuclear-armed neighbours agreeing on what observers say is a "fragile" ceasefire on 10 May.
Irish Times
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Pakistan blames India for suspected suicide attack on schoolbus
Pakistan has blamed India for a suspected suicide attack on a schoolbus in its south-western province of Balochistan on Wednesday morning that killed four children. The bus was en route to the army public school in the city of Khuzdar. According to local officials, an attacker drove a vehicle into the bus before detonating explosives. Yasir Dashti, the deputy commissioner of Khuzdar, said four children, the bus driver and a security guard were killed and 12 more children were critically injured. He said the initial investigation indicated that it was a suicide bombing. Three of the children killed were named as Hifsa Kausar (12), Esha Saleem (16) and Sania Somroo (12). Officials said they were still working to identify the fourth child. READ MORE No militant group immediately claimed responsibility but the media wing of Pakistan's military swiftly issued a statement alleging that its neighbour and rival India had 'planned and orchestrated' the attack. 'Indian terror proxies are being employed as a state tool to foment terrorism in Pakistan against soft targets such as innocent children and civilians,' the statement said. The accusation comes at a highly volatile moment in India-Pakistan relations. Earlier this month, the two nuclear-armed countries came the closest they had been to war in decades as they launched drones and missiles into each other's territory, before a ceasefire was declared on May 10th. The trigger for the conflict was a militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir in April that killed 26 people. The Indian government accused Pakistan-backed militant groups of being behind the incident and launched targeted missile strikes as 'terrorist infrastructure and camps' over the border. Pakistan responded by firing missiles at Indian military targets. [ Explainer: what we know so far about the India-Pakistan crisis Opens in new window ] In the aftermath of the ceasefire, the Indian government said any future terror attacks on its territory would be considered an act of war. Pakistan has denied any involvement in last month's militant attack and has become more vocal in blaming India for a rising wave of attacks that have struck Pakistan, particularly in the regions of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Pakistan has repeatedly accused India of using proxy militant groups to carry out terror attacks in order to destabilise the country. In Balochistan, home to a decades-long bloody insurgency, the area's Liberation Army, a separatist militant group, has been behind a growing number of incidents including suicide bombings and the recent hijacking of a train. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which borders Afghanistan, attacks by the Pakistani Taliban, known as TTP, have been intensifying recently. Shehbaz Sharif , Pakistan's prime minister, echoed the military in blaming India for Wednesday's attack on the schoolbus. 'Terrorists operating under Indian patronage attacking innocent children on a schoolbus is clear evidence of their hostility,' he said. A Balochistan government spokesperson, Shahid Rind, denounced the attack as the 'hideous face of Indian state-sponsored terrorism'. The attack echoed an incident more than a decade earlier when the TTP struck an army public school in the city of Peshawar, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, killing more than 100 schoolchildren. It was one of the deadliest militant attacks on children in Pakistan's history.
The Independent
21-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Three children among five dead in car bomb attack on Pakistan school bus
At least five people, including three children, were killed in southwestern Pakistan 's Balochistan province on Wednesday after a suicide car bomber struck a school bus, officials said. The attack injured 38 others, police officials said. The attack took place on the outskirts of the city of Khuduzar and targeted a bus transporting children to their military-run school in the restive Pakistani province, local deputy commissioner Yasir Iqbal said. 'The school bus belonged to Army Public School as it was picking children in the morning when it was attacked by the suicide bomber,' he told Al Jazeera. Authorities rushed troops to the scene of the attack and cordoned off the area as ambulances transported the victims to hospitals in the city. Preliminary visuals of the suicide car bomb attack showed the mangled remains of a badly damaged bus and debris of the blown up vehicle on the road. No terror group has immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. Mohsin Naqvi, Pakistan's interior minister, strongly condemned the attack and called the perpetrators 'beasts' who deserved no leniency and that the enemy had committed an act of 'sheer barbarism' by targeting innocent children. 'The enemy attacked innocent children with barbarity. The attack on the school bus is a heinous conspiracy of the enemy to create instability in the country,' he said in a statement. Pakistan's military also issued a statement condemning the attack and said the bombing was 'yet another cowardly and ghastly attack'. The country's powerful military institution also blamed India for the attack and said it was planned by the neighbouring nation and executed by 'its proxies in Balochistan'. New Delhi has not issued a comment on Pakistan's allegations so far. Pakistan prime minister Shehbaz Sharif also expressed his condolences and blamed India but did not provide any evidence to back his claim at a time bilateral ties are already strained between the two countries. "The attack on a school bus by terrorists backed by India is clear proof of their hostility toward education in Balochistan," Mr Sharif said, vowing that the government would bring the perpetrators to justice. Balochistan, home to the country's ethnic Baloch minority, has been at the centre of long-running insurgency movement with armed attacks carried out by several separatist groups, including the banned Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) which has been designated a terrorist group by the US in 2019. Earlier this week, the BLA vowed more attacks on the 'Pakistani army and its collaborators' and said its goal is to 'lay the foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and independent Balochistan'. In its one of the deadliest recent attacks which killed 33 people, the BLA claimed responsibility for an assault on a train carrying hundreds of passengers in Balochistan in March.
Arab News
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
A suicide car bomber strikes a school bus in southwestern Pakistan, killing 5 people
QUETTA, Pakistan: A suicide car bomber struck a school bus in southwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing five people — including at least three children — and wounding 38 others, officials said, the latest attack in tense Balochistan province has been the scene of a long-running insurgency, with an array of separatist groups staging attacks, including the outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army, or BLA, designated a terror group by the United States in 2019.A local deputy commissioner, Yasir Iqbal, said the attack took place on the outskirts of the city of Khuzdar as the bus was taking children to their military-run school quickly arrived at the scene and cordoned off the area while ambulances transported the victims to hospitals in the city. Local television stations aired footage of the badly damaged bus and scattered group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but suspicion is likely to fall on ethnic Baloch separatists, who frequently target security forces and civilians in the Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi strongly condemned the attack and expressed deep sorrow over the children's deaths. He called the perpetrators 'beasts' who deserve no leniency, saying the enemy had committed an act of 'sheer barbarism by targeting innocent children.'Officials, who initially reported that four children were killed but later revised the death toll to say two adults were also among the dead, said they fear the toll may rise further as several children were listed in critical IndiaThe military also issued a statement, saying the bombing was 'yet another cowardly and ghastly attack' — allegedly planned by neighboring India and carried out by 'its proxies in Balochistan.'There was no immediate comment from New of the attacks in the province are claimed by the BLA, which Pakistan claims has India's backing. India has denied such Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed his condolences and also blamed India, without providing any evidence to support the claim.'The attack on a school bus by terrorists backed by India is clear proof of their hostility toward education in Balochistan,' Sharif said, vowing that the government would bring the perpetrators to Sharif's office said he is traveling to Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, along with Field Marshal Asim Munir, to meet with the victims of the attack, and to receive a regularly accuses India, its archrival, for violence at home. These accusations have intensified in the wake of heightened tensions between the two nuclear-armed nations amid a cross-border escalation since last month over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, divided between the two but sought in its entirety by escalation raised fears of a broader war, and during this period the BLA appealed to India for support. India has not commented on the appeal.A vicious insurgencyThough Pakistan's largest province, Balochistan is its least populated. It's also a hub for the country's ethnic Baloch minority, whose members say they face discrimination by the one of its deadliest recent attacks, BLA insurgents killed 33 people, mostly soldiers, during an assault on a train carrying hundreds of passengers in Balochistan in earlier this week, the BLA vowed more attacks on the 'Pakistani army and its collaborators' and says its goal is to 'lay the foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and independent Balochistan.'Militant groups are also active in the Balochistan and though it is unusual for separatists to target school children in the province, such attacks have been carried out in the restive northwest and elsewhere in the country in recent schools and colleges in Pakistan are operated by the government or the private sector, though the military also runs a significant number of institutions for children of both civilians and of serving or retired army 2014, the Pakistani Taliban carried out the country's deadliest school attack on an army-run institution in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing 154 people, most of them children.
The Guardian
21-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Pakistan blames India for suspected suicide attack on school bus
Pakistan has blamed India for a suspected suicide attack on a school bus in its south-western province of Balochistan on Wednesday morning that killed four children. The bus was en route to the army public school in the city of Khuzdar. According to local officials, an attacker drove a vehicle into the bus at and then detonated explosives. Yasir Dashti, the deputy commissioner of Khuzdar, said four children, the bus driver and a security guard were killed and 12 more children were critically injured. He said the initial investigation indicated that it was a suicide bombing. Three of the children killed were named as 12-year-old Hifsa Kausar, 16-year-old Esha Saleem and 12-year-old Sania Somroo. Officials said the fourth child killed was still being identified No militant group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. However, the media wing of Pakistan's military swiftly issued a statement alleging that its neighbour and rival India had 'planned and orchestrated' the attack. '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,' the military statement said. The accusation comes at a highly volatile moment in India-Pakistan relations. Earlier this month, the two nuclear-armed countries came the closest they had been to war in decades as they launched drones and missiles into each other's territory, before a ceasefire was declared on 10 May. The trigger for the conflict was a militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir in April that killed 26 people. The Indian government accused Pakistan-backed militant groups of being behind the incident and launched targeted missile strikes as 'terrorist infrastructure and camps' over the border. Pakistan responded by firing missiles at Indian military targets. In the aftermath of the ceasefire, the Indian government said any future terror attacks on its territory would be considered an act of war. Pakistan has denied any involvement in last month's militant attack in Indian Kashmir. It has become more vocal in blaming India for a rising wave of militant attacks that have struck Pakistan, particularly in the regions of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Pakistan has repeatedly accused India of using proxy militant groups to carry out terror attacks in order to destabilise the country. In Balochistan, home to a decades-long bloody insurgency, the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), a separatist militant group, has been behind a growing number of incidents including suicide bombings and the recent hijacking of a train. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which borders Afghanistan, attacks by the Pakistani Taliban, known as TTP, have been intensifying recently. Pakistan's prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, echoed the military in blaming India for Wednesday's attack on the school bus. 'Terrorists operating under Indian patronage attacking innocent children on a school bus is clear evidence of their hostility,' he said. A Balochistan government spokesperson, Shahid Rind, denounced the attack as the 'hideous face of Indian state-sponsored terrorism'. The attack echoed an incident more than a decade earlier when the TTP struck an army public school in the city of Peshawar, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, killing more than 100 schoolchildren. It was one of the deadliest militant attacks on children in Pakistan's history.
