KARACHI: Four children were shot in a terrorist attack on a school in the outskirts of Quetta in Balochistan province on Wednesday, police said.
The injured students were immediately moved to the Quetta Civil Hospital where doctors said they were in a stable condition.
“Four students aged between 9 to 12 years have been brought to the hospital with bullet wounds. However, they are now stable after preliminary treatment,” Dr. Waseem Baig, spokesman of the hospital, told Arab News.
Dr. Baig added that the students — identified as Nasima, Gul Muhammad, Salman and Masood Azhar – were shot in the legs.
DIG Quetta Abdul Razzaq Cheema said that the children were students of the Danish Kada School, located in the Shabu Kali area of the city. “Since the gate of the school was closed, the terrorists fired from the space beneath the gate due to which the bullets hit the legs of the students,” Cheema told Arab News. “Luckily, there was no fatality in the incident from low-range firing,” he said.
He added that the motive behind the attack was yet to be ascertained as no specific threats had been issued to the school’s administration. No one has claimed responsibility of the attack, with authorities trying to zero in on the culprits, the police chief said.
“Anything regarding the motive of the terrorists can be said once the investigations are complete. The security of the schools has been tightened. At this stage nothing can be said whether the terrorists wanted to kill the students or just wanted to terrorize them,” Cheema said.
Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan, who sought a detailed report of the incident, directed the provincial police chief to arrest the culprits at the earliest, his spokesperson said.
The attack is a grim reminder of a more gruesome one that took place in 2014, when more than 134 students were killed in an attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar on December 16. The tragic incident prompted Pakistan’s civil and military leadership to devise a National Action Plan to curb militancy and terrorism.
It also follows closely on the heels of another incident where at least 12 schools were torched by militants in the Diamer district of Gilgit Baltistan in August this year.
Four shot in Quetta school attack
Four shot in Quetta school attack
- Those injured included students between the ages of nine and 12
- Terrorists had fired from beneath the school’s closed gates, police chief says
Pakistan, UK discuss regional security, cross-border attacks as senior official visits Islamabad
- British envoy for Afghanistan Richard Lindsay’s visit comes at a time of a surge in militancy in Pakistan’s border regions
- Pakistani diplomat says both sides reviewed broader security challenges, emphasized coordination to address ‘shared concerns’
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani and British officials have discussed regional security challenges and cross-border attacks during talks in Islamabad, a Pakistani diplomat said on Tuesday, during a visit of the United Kingdom’s Afghanistan envoy, Richard Lindsay, to the Pakistani capital.
Pakistan and the UK regularly cooperate on counterterrorism and security, with a focus on intelligence-sharing to combat militant activity. Lindsay’s visit comes at a time of a rise in militancy in Pakistan’s western provinces, which border Afghanistan.
Mohammad Sadiq, Pakistan’s special representative for Afghanistan, said the discussions in Islamabad focused on the regional security situation, particularly the urgent challenge posed by cross-border attacks.
“We also exchanged views on the latest regional security developments and broader security challenges,” he said on X. “We emphasized the importance of continued cooperation and coordination to address shared concerns and promote regional stability.”
Islamabad frequently accuses Afghanistan of allowing its soil and India of backing militant groups, such as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), for attacks against Pakistan. Kabul and New Delhi deny this.
In recent years, Pakistan and the UK have engaged with each other on counterterrorism and cross-border crimes as part of bilateral cooperation.
Both sides held the second round of the Pakistan-UK Counter Terrorism Dialogue in London in February last year, reviewing global and regional threats and exchanging best practices. Over the years, armed forces of both countries have also maintained close cooperation, particularly in counterterrorism efforts and professional military training.
