In Pakistan’s Balochistan province, three children among five people were martyred, and several others injured when a bus carrying students was targeted in a blast on Wednesday, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) reported.

“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 schoolchildren’s bus was targeted today in Khuzdar,” the ISPR statement said.

Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the explosion near Khuzdar. They expressed deep sorrow and grief over the deaths of innocent people, including children, and extended condolences to their families. “As per initial reports, three innocent children and two adults have embraced martyrdom, and multiple children have sustained injuries,” the press release added.

The ISPR stated that “Indian terror proxies are being employed as a state tool by India to foment terrorism in Pakistan against soft targets such as innocent children and civilians.” It further noted that after failing on the battlefield, Indian proxies have resorted to these heinous and cowardly acts to spread terror and unrest in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The statement highlighted that following their failure in Operation Bunyan-um-Marsoos and being pursued by military and law enforcement agencies, these Indian terror proxies are now used as a state tool by India to incite terrorism against vulnerable civilians in Pakistan.

“Use of terrorism as a state policy by the Indian political government is abhorrent and reflects their low morality and disregard for basic human norms,” the statement added. It vowed that planners, abettors, and executors of this Indian-sponsored attack will be hunted down and brought to justice, and that the heinous face of India will be exposed to the entire world.