15 killed in bomb blast outside polio centre in Pakistan

At least 14 people, including police personnel, have been killed and several injured in a blast near anti-polio centre in Quetta’s satellite town in Pakistan.

Numerous casualties are thought to have been police guarding the clinic.

Police official Shahzada Farhat said the attack appeared to be a suicide bombing, but investigations are ongoing.

Seven to eight kilogramme of explosives are thought to have been used in the blast, says Deputy Inspector General Police Quetta Syed Imtiaz Shah.

Rasheed Jamali, a senior doctor told Dawn that at least five critically injured victims were shifted to combined military hospital in Quetta.

Eyewitnesses at the site said they heard firing after a loud blast rocked the area.

Pakistan remains one of only two countries on the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) list of polio-endemic countries.

Militants oppose polio vaccination, saying it is a Western conspiracy to sterilise Pakistani children.

The exact nature of the blast is not yet known.

This latest blast took place in Quetta, capital of south-western Balochistan province, which has also seen sporadic attacks on polio teams.