Daily Times

Nine people, including five children, were killed in Mastung district on Friday while 29 were injured in a bomb blast, drawing condemnation from Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti who lamented that terrorists had now started targeting innocent children along with poor labourers.

State broadcaster PTV News quoted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif as saying that the explosion occurred at a “girls’ high school”, while another post by the outlet said the incident occurred “near Girls’ High School Chowk”.

However, Kalat Division Commissioner Naeem Bazai said that the attack took place at around 8:35am near the Mastung Civil Hospital which.

Initially, Bazai said that seven people, including five schoolchildren, had been killed while 17 had sustained injuries in the blast. He added that the blast was apparently carried out with the help of an improvised explosive device (IED) attached to a motorcycle that was detonated near a police mobile. Later in the evening, Deputy Commissioner Mastung Captain (Retired) Baz Muhammad Marri said that the death toll from the Mastung blast had risen to nine.

“Among the deceased are five girls, one boy, one police officer, and two other civilians,” he said. “The bodies have been transferred to Civil Hospital Mastung, Nawab Ghaus Bakhsh Memorial Hospital, and Civil Hospital Quetta, and were handed over to the families after necessary procedures.”

Meanwhile, the spokesman of the provincial health department, Dr Wasim Baig, told the media that reports from different hospitals suggested a total of 29 people sustained injuries in the blast.

The deputy commissioner and assistant commissioner were overseeing the situation at the hospitals, Bazai said. He highlighted that the police have cordoned off the area to prevent any further incidents.

Earlier, Mastung District Police Officer (DPO) Miandad Umrani told the media that four policemen were among the injured. He also stated that the deceased children were aged between five and 10 years. A police van and several auto-rickshaws were damaged as a result of the explosion, according to the DPO.

Some media outlets reported that a polio team was the target of the attack.

“Terrorists targeted our police van which was guarding a polio team in the Civil Hospital Chowk area,” Rahmatullah, a local police officer, told Anadolu Agency over the phone. He added that members of the vaccination team remained unhurt, however, one policeman was killed and four others were injured in the attack. Reuters, quoting the same official, also reported that a police van on its way to pick up a polio team was targeted, adding that as a result of the attack, one policeman was killed while 23 others were injured. Deputy Commissioner Mastung Marri, however, refuted the claims.

“Terrorists attacked a police van near Civil Hospital, where the police mobile was patrolling when the attack occurred,” he said. “Security has been deployed at various locations in Mastung to protect polio teams, but the police van targeted was not assigned to polio team security.”

CM Bugti said terrorists had now “targeted innocent children along with poor labourers”, apparently referring to a recent attack that killed five security guards in Panjgur. In a statement on X, the chief minister condemned the blast, saying it was “inhumane”. CM Bugti said terrorists had targeted children deeming them to be a “soft target”.

“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 added.

PM Shehbaz and Acting President Yusuf Raza Gilani also condemned the “bomb blast at a Girls’ High School in Mastung”, state-run Radio Pakistan reported.