WORLD / ASIA-PACIFIC
4 killed, 26 injured in southwest Pakistan’s suicide blast: health department
Published: Dec 01, 2022 08:19 PM
Security personnel examine a truck at a blast site in southwest Pakistan's Quetta on Nov. 30, 2022. A suicide blast hit a police truck on Wednesday in Quetta, the provincial capital of Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province, killing two people and leaving 24 others injured, a police official told Xinhua.(Photo: Xinhua)

Security personnel examine a truck at a blast site in southwest Pakistan's Quetta on Nov. 30, 2022. A suicide blast hit a police truck on Wednesday in Quetta, the provincial capital of Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province, killing two people and leaving 24 others injured, a police official told Xinhua.(Photo: Xinhua)

Four people including a policeman were killed and 26 others injured in a suicide attack in Quetta, capital of Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province on Wednesday, the provincial health department said.

The other deceased including two kids and their mother, and the injured people were shifted to Civil Hospital Quetta, the media coordinator of the department of health, Waseem Baig told Xinhua.

Earlier in a conversation with Xinhua, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Quetta police Ghulam Azfar Mahesar said that a suicide bomber exploded his explosive-laden rickshaw near a truck of police in Baleli area of Quetta.

The blast toppled the vehicle and pushed it into a ditch beside the road, he added.

The targeted policemen were on their way to performing security duties for polio teams deployed across the city to inoculate vaccines to kids.

The official added that the initial investigation found that around 25 kilograms of explosives were used in the blast.

The police and security forces have cordoned off the area and launched a search operation in the region.

Local media reports said the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) had claimed responsibility for the attack.

The blast was carried out after the militant group announced to terminate a cease-fire agreement with the Pakistani government, threatening to start attacks across the country.

Xinhua