Pakistan: Five schoolchildren among seven killed in blast in Balochistan

Pic/AFP

Seven people, including five schoolchildren and a policeman, were killed while 17 others were injured on Friday in a remote-controlled blast targeting a police van in Pakistan's restive Balochistan province.

The blast occurred at 8.35 am near a girl's high school at the Civil Hospital Chowk of the Mastung district of the province.

Terrorists used a remote control device to detonate explosive material hidden in a parked motorbike, officials said.

"It was an IED (improvised explosive device) used in the blast, and the target apparently was a police mobile parked near the school," Kalat Division Commissioner Naeem Bazai said.

The IED detonated when the police mobile came close to it, and a school van was caught in the mayhem. The police van and several auto-rickshaws were also damaged in the explosion.

"The blast was so powerful that schoolchildren who were going to the school at that time were hit by the explosion," Bazai added.

Mastung District Police Officer (DPO) Miandad Umrani confirmed that five schoolchildren, one police official and a civilian were killed in the blast.

The 17 injured, including schoolchildren between the ages of eight and 13 as well as policemen, were shifted to various hospitals in the province.

Those with the most serious injuries were taken to the capital Quetta for treatment. According to DPO Umrani, 11 people were moved to the Quetta Trauma Centre for treatment.

TV footage after the attack showed policemen and other people surrounding a charred vehicle.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet, but ethnic Baloch terrorists and Taliban terrorists often attack the security forces in the province, which has been facing a low-level insurgency for about two decades now.

Meanwhile, Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti took to X to condemn the blast, calling it "inhumane".

He said terrorists had now "targeted innocent children along with poor labourers" in an apparent reference to a recent attack by unidentified gunmen at a dam construction site in the province's Panjgur district, which killed five workers and injured two others.

"We will avenge the murder of innocent children and people," CM said, adding that civilians in urban areas also needed to be on the watch for the terrorists. "The monster of terrorism can only be fought together," he said. He added that terrorists had targeted children, deeming them to be a "soft target".

In the aftermath of the blast, an emergency was declared across all Quetta hospitals, Geo News reported, quoting the provincial health department spokesperson, adding that all doctors, pharmacists, staff nurses and other medical staff were summoned.

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