Multiple Groups Claim Bombing of Pakistan Polio Clinic

A suicide bomber yesterday killed at least 16 people, 13 of them policemen, outside a polio-eradication centre in Quetta.

Police said the attack appeared to be a suicide bombing. “He urges the government of Pakistan to take all necessary measures to swiftly bring to justice the perpetrators of such attacks”, a statement issued by Ban’s spokesperson here yesterday said. Most of the victims were security personnel charged with providing security to vaccination teams. “More than 25 people were also wounded”.

Home Minister of Balochistan Sarfraz Bugti confirmed that the blast killed 13 policemen and a paramilitary Frontier Corps man.

“It was a suicide blast, we have gathered evidence from the scene”, Ahsan Mehboob, the provincial police chief told Reuters.

A Pakistani health worker with a police escort administers polio drops to a child during a polio vaccination campaign in Karachi on January 12, 2016. Tens of thousands have been killed in Pakistan over the past decade in attacks mainly targeting security forces and the country’s Shiite minority.

The United Nations and worldwide relief groups have long backed Pakistan’s campaign against polio, a crippling childhood disease that still circulates only here and in neighbouring Afghanistan.

The suicide bomber detonated next to a police van, which was sent to provide a security escort to the vaccination workers, who are often targeted by militants.

“A team comprising senior officials is investigating the incident”, a police officer said.

Ahmed Marwat, a commander and spokesman for Jundullah, said his group was responsible for the attack.

“We won’t allow the nefarious designs of the terrorists to succeed, we will eliminate polio”, he said.

“The blast is under investigation, and there has been no claim of responsibility, he said”.

It is not yet clear who carried out the bombing and whether the attackers meant to hit polio workers.

Attempts to eradicate polio through immunization drives in Pakistan – one of only three countries where polio remains endemic – have been stymied by repeated attacks on health workers and security personnel.

In 2014 the number of polio cases recorded in Pakistan soared to 306, the highest in 14 years.

Quetta is the capital of southwestern Baluchistan province, where a low-level insurgency has always been waged by Baloch separatist groups demanding a greater share of the region’s natural resources or outright independence.