Pakistan : Four people were killed and more than 20 wounded in a suicide bombing in south-west Pakistan on Wednesday, two days after Pakistani Taliban called on its fighters to launch attacks across the country.
A child was among the victims of the attack targeting a police patrol in Quetta, spokesman Abdul Haq.
At least 15 police officers were among those wounded in the explosion, confirmed by Mr Haq to be a suicide bombing, as police prepared to escort a polio vaccination team in the provincial capital of Balochistan province.
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have claimed responsibility for the attack, which they said was to avenge the killing of their former spokesman in a bombing in Afghanistan’s Paktika province in August.
t comes only days after the group ended a months-long ceasefire with Islamabad and called on its members to wage attacks across Pakistan.
“The target of the attack was the police truck, however, two more [civilian vans] which were on the road were also hit by the blast,” Ghulam Azfar Mahesar, director general of police (DIG).
“The police van was hit by a small vehicle [which has yet to be confirmed] in which the suicide bomber was sitting.”
The DIG said about 25kg of explosives were used. An investigation was on Wednesday under way, with evidence being gathered from the scene.
Earlier this month, the TTP killed six police officers in an ambush on a patrol in the north-west of the country. While separate from the Afghan Taliban, its militants share the same ideology and have launched regular attacks in recent months despite the ceasefire signed in June.
On Tuesday, Pakistan’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Hina Rabbani Khar, visited Kabul amid cross-border violence blamed on the group. Islamabad said a “range of issues” was discussed but did not mention security.
Rifat Orakzai, a veteran journalist who focuses on militant groups, said the TTP had stopped suicide attacks because the Afghan Taliban had banned the practice on the grounds it was “un-Islamic”. But Wednesday’s attack, he added, showed that the TTP could be set to use similarly violent tactics again.
