Five killed and 38 injured after suicide bombing strikes school bus in Pakistan

Officials have warned that the death toll from the attack in the southwestern province of Balochistan could rise.

At least five people, including three children, have been killed in a suicide car bombing that hit a school bus in southwestern Pakistan, officials have said. The attack, which injured 38 others, took place on the outskirts of the city of Khuzdar in the province of Balochistan, according to local Deputy Commissioner Yasir Iqbal. The bomb went off as the school bus was carrying students to a military-run school in the city. Officials have warned the death toll could rise, as several children remain in a critical condition. Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned the attack, calling the perpetrators "beasts" who were guilty of an act of "sheer barbarism by targeting innocent children." The country’s military also issued a statement, describing the bombing as "yet another cowardly and ghastly attack."Both the army and the Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who will travel to Balochistan to meet some of the injured, have blamed India for the bombing, without providing any evidence. No 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 region.Pakistan and India regularly trade blame for attacks in each other's territory and such accusations have increased following recent heightened tensions after a terrorist attack killed 26 people in India-administered Kashmir earlier this month, sparking a brief exchange of fire. Balochistan insurgencyAttacks in Balochistan — Pakistan's most sparsely populated province — are common, generally spearheaded by the insurgent group the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), which is designated as a terror group by the United States.Four people were killed and 20 others were injured on Sunday when a car bomb exploded near a market in the city of Qillah Abdullah in Balochistan. But no group has claimed responsibility for that blast. In March, BLA insurgents killed 33 people, most of whom were soldiers, when they targeted a train in Balochistan. Earlier this week, the BLA vowed to carry out more attacks on the "Pakistani army and its collaborators" as part of its goal of creating an independent Balochistan.