At least seven individuals, including five school students, lost their lives and 23 others sustained injuries in a blast in southwestern Pakistan on Friday, according to police officials. Senior Superintendent of Police Rehmatullah reported that the explosion was aimed at a police van en route to collect a polio vaccination team.
The blast was caused by an improvised explosive device attached to a motorcycle parked near a girls' school in the town of Mastung. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the incident, highlighting the ongoing surge in militant violence in northwest Pakistan and a rising separatist insurgency in the south. Just days prior, a police officer was killed during an attack on a health office overseeing door-to-door polio vaccination efforts.
These violent events coincide with Pakistan’s third nationwide polio vaccination campaign, which commenced earlier this week in response to a notable increase in cases. Although polio cases dropped to six in 2023 from 20 in 2022, the prime minister's office reports there are currently 41 active cases in the country.