Six die in attack on military-run school’s bus; ISPR blames India
The military directly blames Delhi for a bomb attack on a school bus carrying 46 children in Khuzdar, Balochistan
STATE OF THE NATION
May 21, 2025
IN an attack grimly reminiscent of the 2014 massacre at Peshawar’s Army Public School, which claimed the lives of around 150 students, a bomb struck a school bus in the restive province of Balochistan on Wednesday, killing six persons and wounding several others.
According to The New York Times, the explosion occurred in Khuzdar district, approximately 180 miles south of Quetta, along the main highway linking Quetta and Karachi. The bus was transporting students from nearby areas to a military-administered school situated within a high-security cantonment, officials said.
“The explosion took place as the school bus was passing through the area,” confirmed Yasir Iqbal Dashti, a senior district official. “The bodies of the deceased and the injured have been shifted to a nearby hospital.” Several of the seriously wounded were later airlifted to Quetta for advanced medical treatment.
Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti reported that, in addition to four students, the driver and a bus assistant were also killed. “Forty-six students were on board when the bus was targeted using a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device,” he told a press briefing in Quetta. He added that militant groups had increasingly resorted to attacking vulnerable civilian targets, including children.
Military directly blames India
In an unusually direct statement, Pakistani military’s public relations wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), accused Indian intelligence agencies of orchestrating the bombing. “In yet another cowardly and ghastly attack — planned by the terrorist state of India and executed by its proxies in Balochistan — a bus carrying innocent schoolchildren was targeted today in Khuzdar,” the ISPR said.
The military further alleged that India, “having miserably failed on the battlefield,” was now sponsoring acts of terrorism via proxy groups to destabilise both Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. “Indian terror proxies are being employed as instruments of state policy to foment unrest in Pakistan, deliberately targeting soft civilian populations, including children,” the statement stated.
“The use of terrorism as a state instrument by India’s political leadership is abhorrent and reflects a complete disregard for basic human norms,” the statement asserted. “Those who planned, facilitated, and carried out this cowardly, Indian-sponsored attack will be relentlessly pursued and brought to justice. The heinous face of Indian aggression will be exposed to the international community.”
Meanwhile, the Associated Press of Pakistan reported that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif arrived in Quetta to assess the security situation. He was accompanied by the ministers for defence, interior, and information. The prime minister chaired a series of high-level meetings and received detailed briefings during his visit.