News / Pakistan

6 police officers killed in attack in Pakistan’s Quetta

Tuesday, 24 April 2018 4:42 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 24 April 2018 4:45 PM ]

The photo shows the site of a bombing in Quetta, Pakistan, April 24, 2018. (AFP photo)

At least six police officers have been killed in separate attacks on security forces in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta.

Officials said Tuesday that 15 members of the security forces had also been injured after three attackers detonated their explosives among police and paramilitary soldiers in Quetta.

Provincial police chief Moazzam Jah Ansari said that seven police officers were wounded in a bombing that targeted a police truck.

“... we have a confirmation that six of our police officials are dead,” said Ansari.

A paramilitary officer said earlier in the day that troops deployed on two checkpoints on the outskirts of Quetta engaged two assailants who tried to carry out a bomb attack in the locations.

Both the attackers died while detonating their explosives as they were shot by the troops, said the official, adding that eight soldiers were wounded in the incident.

There has yet to come a claim of responsibility for the attacks, although militants linked to the Taliban, al-Qaeda and Daesh Takfiri terrorist group have carried out similar attacks in the past in Quetta, which is the capital city of the southwestern province of Baluchistan.

Two people from the ethnic Hazara community were shot dead in a sectarian attack on the outskirts of Quetta on Sunday.

An attack earlier this month in Quetta left six Pakistani Christians and two Shia Muslims killed. Two attackers stormed a church in southwestern Pakistan in December, killing at least 10 people and injuring 56 more.

Balochistan has also been the scene of attacks by ethnic Baloch militants who want a better share of the province’s rich mineral resources. Some of those attacks have targeted major China-invested economic projects in the region, prompting authorities in Islamabad to launch large-scale crackdown to hunt the suspects.

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