Islamabad, Pakistan: A suicide bomb blast has struck a police vehicle in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, killing at least one police officer and two civilians and wounding dozens, according to police.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) armed group, also known as the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s attack, two days after announcing an end to a ceasefire agreed with the government in June.
Quetta Police’s Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Ghulam Azfar Mahesar told reporters the vehicle that was targeted was carrying security personnel deployed to protect polio vaccination campaign workers in the capital of Pakistan’s Balochistan province.
Mahesar said the incident in Buleli district wounded at least 24 people, 20 of whom are policemen. He added that two other vehicles were also damaged in the attack.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the explosion, expressing his grief over the death of civilians and police official.
The TTP later issued a statement, claiming responsibility for the attack.
“This attack was carried out after the announcement to end ceasefire, and was planned to take revenge for the death of Omar Khalid Khorasani. Our attacks will continue,” it said.
Khorasani was a senior TTP leader who was killed in a car bomb blast in Afghanistan in August.
Earlier this month, the group had targeted another police vehicle in Lakki Marwat city in northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in which six police personnel were killed.
