Pakistan School Bus Suicide Bomb Kills 3 Children, Indian Proxies Accused Of Mastermind

JAKARTA - A suicide bomb attack killed 3 children on a school bus in Blochistan, Pakistan. A total of 5 victims were killed, including the suicide bombers.

About 40 students were on the bus heading to the army-run school and some were injured, said Yasir Iqbal, administrator of Khuzdar district, the scene.

Pakistan's military and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif immediately released a statement condemning the violence and accused "India's terrorist proxy" of involvement in the attack.

But the Pakistani side showed no evidence linking the attack to New Delhi. The Indian government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Reported by Reuters on Wednesday, May 21, three children and two adults were killed in the attack, according to a military statement.

Tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighboring countries escalated after they staged a ceasefire on May 10, following the most intense military action in decades in a conflict that analysts and officials say could get out of control.

The two countries accuse each other of supporting militancy in their respective regions - accusations denied by the two countries.

The latest military escalation, in which the two countries attacked each other with missiles, was triggered after India accused Pakistan of supporting militants attacking dozens of tourists in India's contested suspicions. Islamabad denied involvement.

Blochistan in the southwest is Pakistan's largest province by region, but smallest by population.

The province of about 15 million people in the southwest of the country is home to major mining projects but has been rocked by the insurgency that has been going on for decades.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the explosion.

This incident reminds of one of the deadliest militant attacks in Pakistan's history when an attack on a military school in the northern city of Peshawar in 2014 killed more than 130 children.

The attack was claimed by Pakistan's Tereek-e-Taliban, an ultra-radical Islamist group.

Attacks by separatist groups in Blochistan have escalated in recent years.

The Bloch Liberation Army, a separatist militant group, blew up railroad tracks and took train passengers hostage in March to the point of killing 31 people.