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, according to Google Maps, is located a few meters away from the hospital.

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 Dawn.com 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 Dawn.com 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.

‘Polio team not targeted’

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.”

‘Inhumane’ act

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.

In their separate statements, they expressed deep grief over the death of children and a policeman in the incident, conveying their condolences to the bereaved families.

Gilani reiterated the resolve to root out terrorism from the country, asserting that terrorists were humanity’s enemies.

The “entire nation stands united to support the security forces and law enforcement agencies to eliminate terrorism”, he was quoted as saying.

PM Shehbaz said the “attack on a school was loud evidence of terrorists’ animosity towards education in Balochistan”.

He asserted such “cowardly acts of terrorists” could neither undermine the nation’s morale nor shake the Balochistan government’s unwavering resolve to promote education and development in the province.

The premier, the statement said, directed the authorities concerned to apprehend the perpetrators of the blast and give them an exemplary punishment.

He also instructed that the best medical treatment facilities be provided to the injured.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) strongly condemned the incident. “To have targeted an area near a hospital and a school was a reprehensible act.

“The sharp rise in militancy in the province must be taken extremely seriously by the federal and provincial governments and the perpetrators traced and brought to book. A long-term political solution is the only way forward,” the group said in a post on X.

While no group immediately claimed responsibility for the blast, the country, particularly the Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, has seen a sharp uptick in terrorism-related incidents over the last few months.

Terror attacks declined by 24 per cent in September compared to August, but they witnessed surges in August and July, according to monthly security reports.

In 2023, Pakistan witnessed 1,524 violence-related fatalities and 1,463 injuries from 789 terror attacks and counter-terror operations. Overall fatalities, including those of outlaws, mark a record six-year high.

Earlier this month, a bomb blast in Khuzdar killed a Levies official and PPP leader Khan Muhammad Lotani’s son, while the politician was left injured as their pickup truck was targeted.

Last month, terrorists armed with automatic weapons stormed an under-construction house in Panj­gur, killing seven labourers hailing from Multan. A day later, armed men attacked the camp of a private construction company in the Musakhel district, torching the machinery and vehicles there. No casualties were reported.

In May, a driver died while another three were missing when a convoy of six coal-laden trucks en route to Punjab from Duki coal fields came under a gun attack in Ziarat.

In January 2021, 11 coal miners belonging to the Shia Hazara community sleeping in their room were held at gunpoint, blindfolded and trussed up before being executed by unidentified attackers in the Mach coal field area. The militant Islamic State group had claimed responsibility for the killing.

With input from Anadolu Agency and Reuters.