QUETTA:
Two more students, Sheema Ibrahim and Muskan, embraced martyrdom while receiving treatment in a Quetta hospital, raising the number of students martyred in the recent terrorist attack on a school bus in Khuzdar, Balochistan, to eight, according to security sources.
The total death toll has risen to 10.
Security officials confirmed that among those martyred are seven female students and one male student.
On the day of the suicide bombing, Sania Soomro (Grade 6), Hafsa Kausar (Grade 7), and Ayesha Saleem (Grade 10) were among the first to embrace martyrdom.
Later, Haider, Malaika, and Sehr Saleem also succumbed to their injuries while receiving medical treatment, security officials said.
According to intelligence sources, the attack was planned and sponsored by the terrorist state of India.
“The blood of these innocent children will not go unavenged. Those behind this — including the Indian handlers and their local agents — will be held accountable,” security officials stated.
During a press briefing in Rawalpindi on Friday DG ISPR Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said that the attack was not just on a school bus, but an attack on our values, education, and the fabric of our society. “Our response will be decisive. They will not succeed,” said the interior secretary.
DG ISPR said that India-sponsored attackers have no humanity, morality, and Baloch or Pakistani identity, adding that India has been involved in state-sponsored terrorism for 20 years, destabilising regional peace. He pointed out that in 2009, Pakistan had presented a dossier to the United Nations with evidence of India’s involvement in terrorist activities in Balochistan.
