Bomb attack on polio centre in Pakistan kills 14

The bombing of the polio center on the outskirts of Quetta city killed 12 police, a soldier and a civilian, said Syed Imtiaz Shah, the local police chief.

The official said at least 10 people had been wounded, nine of whom were police and one a civilian.

‘It was a suicide blast, we have gathered evidence from the scene, ‘ said Ahsan Mehboob, police chief of Pakistan’s province of Balochistan.

Bombs are still going off in Pakistan, the latest target is a polio vaccination centre in Quetta.

Militant group Jundullah, which has links with the Pakistani Taleban and has pledged allegiance to Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Militants fight polio vaccination, saying this is a Western conspiracy to sterilise Pakistani youngsters.

Eyewitness Shabbir Ahmed, a 32-year-old police constable, said he had been deployed to protect a polio-vaccination team that was due to leave for various neighbourhoods of Quetta at 10am.

Rescue teams and law enforcement agencies rushed to the blast site immediately.

Wednesday’s blast took place in the Satellite Town area of Quetta, capital of south-western Balochistan province, which has also seen sporadic attacks on polio teams.

Balochistan home minister Sarfaraz Bugti said investigations had been launched into the incident.

It’s understood the officers were there to accompany polio workers at the centre on the third day of the region’s vaccination campaign.

Militants have targeted anti-polio campaigns in Pakistan for decades in an effort to beat back government influence, CNN’s Nic Robertson said.

Both Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif have condemned the blast. He expressed his resolve to root out terrorism from the country.

Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria are the only countries where polio is considered endemic, but Pakistan reportedly accounts for more than 80 percent of all polio cases in the world.

Officials said the blast was set off by a suicide bomber who apparently targeted a van bringing the policemen to the polio centre for escort duties.