US condemns Khuzdar school bus bombing as 'unconscionable'

The US Embassy in Islamabad strongly condemned the deadly attack on a school bus in Khuzdar, Balochistan, which martyred six people, including four students, and injured dozens more.

Terrorists targeted the school bus as it was heading towards the educational institute with more than 40 students on board.

Natalie A Baker, Chargé d’Affaires at the US Embassy, in an X post said, “We join Pakistan’s leaders in condemning the brutal, unconscionable attack on a school bus in Khuzdar, Balochistan.”

She described the murder of innocent children as “beyond comprehension” and expressed sympathy for the victims’ families: “We grieve with the families who lost loved ones, and our thoughts are with those recovering.”

Baker added, “No child should ever fear going to school,” and affirmed the US support for efforts to end violence in Pakistan: “We stand with those in Pakistan working to end this violence.”

Following the tragic attack, Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti told reporters that were six martyred, including four children, the bus driver, and his assistant, while those critically injured were being transported via air to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) Quetta. 

Khuzdar's deputy commissioner said that more than 30 individuals sustained injuries in the blast. 

The government said that Indian-backed militants carried out the attack, coming almost two weeks after the two sides settled a ceasefire to end their most serious conflict in decades.

Security sources identified three of the martyred as grade six student Sania Soomoro, grade seven's Hifza Kousar, and grade 10's Esha Saleem.

The military's media wing, in a statement, said: "In yet another cowardly and ghastly attack planned and orchestrated by [the] terrorist state of India and executed by its proxies in Balochistan, [an] innocent school-going children bus was targeted today in Khuzdar."