At least three children were among five people killed in a suicide attack on an army school bus in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province, the military said on Wednesday.
Pakistan blamed Indian agents for the attack. According to Yasar Iqbal, the administrator of Khuzdar district, where the incident took place, there were about 40 students on the bus, which was heading to a military school, and several of them were injured.
The Pakistani military and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif immediately issued statements condemning the violence and accusing “Indian terrorist accomplices” of involvement in the attack. They did not share any evidence linking the attack to New Delhi.
The Indian government did not immediately respond to a request for comment. At least three children and two adults were killed in the attack, according to an army statement.
Tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours remain high after they agreed to a ceasefire on May 10, which diplomats warned was fragile after the most intense fighting in decades in a conflict that analysts and officials feared could spiral out of control. Both countries accuse each other of supporting militants on each other’s territory, a charge both capitals deny.
The latest military escalation, during which the two countries exchanged missiles, came after India accused Pakistan of supporting militants who attacked dozens of tourists in the Indian-administered part of the disputed Kashmir region. Islamabad denies any involvement in the incident.
Southwestern Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest province in terms of area but the smallest in terms of population. The province, located in the southwestern part of the country with a population of about 15 million, is home to key mining projects, but unrest has been ongoing for several decades.
