Quetta Blast responsibility claimed
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QUETTA - At least six people were killed on Quetta's Zarghoon Road when a suicide bomber rammed into a parked police bus on Tuesday, injuring 18 people, police said.
Four policemen and two passers-by were among those killed, Inspector General of Balochistan Police Moazzam Jah Ansari said. He said seven policemen were injured in the attack. [image: Volunteers move the body of a policeman at the site of the suicide bomb attack in Quetta. — AFP] Volunteers move the body of a policeman at the site of the suicide bomb attack in Quetta. — AFP
Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Abdul Razzaq Cheema told *AFP* a suicide bomber on a motorcycle had struck the bus. Bomb Disposal Squad officials said 10 kilograms of explosives had been used in the attack.
According to *Associated Press*, the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack, saying a suicide bomber targeted a police contingent returning from duty at the provincial assembly building.
IG Ansari while talking to reporters said he could "tell in advance" that the suicide bomber must have come from across the Afghan border, as DNA tests showed suicide bombers involved in previous attacks in Quetta were foreign nationals too.
The injured, which include security personnel and civilians, were shifted to Quetta Civil Hospital's trauma centre after being administered first aid, the hospital's spokesman told *DawnNews*.
The explosion occurred near GPO Chowk in the vicinity of the Balochistan Assembly. The road also leads to the Chief Minister's Secretariat.
A large number of security personnel had been present near the site of the blast as a session of the Balochistan Assembly attended by almost all its members had just concluded <link>. The area also houses several important government buildings, and is usually well secured.
A large number of security personnel and rescue services reached the site of the blast. The injured were shifted to Civil Hospital Quetta, where an emergency was declared.
The area was cordoned off and media was stopped from moving near the blast site.
The incident comes less than a month after nine members of the Christian community lost their lives <link> and 56 suffered injuries in a terrorist attack on the Bethel Memorial Methodist Church also located on Zarghoon Road. The militant Islamic State group had claimed responsibility for the attack through their Amaq news agency.
