Five security personnel killed in blast in Pakistan

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Quetta: At least five security personnel were killed and two others sustained injuries in a road-side bomb targeting a convoy of security forces in Marget area of Quetta on Monday.

“Five security personnel have been killed as a result of an IED blast targeting a security forces convoy in Marget area,” security sources told The Express Tribune.

At least 15 killed in suicide blast near polio centre in Quetta.

The bodies and the injured were shifted to a nearby medical facility while a search operation was launched in the area to arrest the suspected terrorists.

The deceased personnel were later identified as Awais Muhammad, Muhammad Qaseem, Fareed, Muhammad Saleem, Mubashir Nadeem while Aqeel and Gulab received injuries, sources said.

The attack comes days after a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a polio vaccination centre in Quetta on January 13, killing at least 15 people, mainly police.

The policemen had been gathering outside the centre to accompany polio workers on the third day of a vaccination campaign which are frequently targeted by Taliban and other militant groups in Pakistan.

Soon after the attack, the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) had claimed responsibility. “A TTP’s special unit carried out successful attack at Quetta’s Satellite Town area, killing and injuring several security officials,” the TTP spokesperson, Mohammad Khorasani said.

Balochistan, is home to a raging insurgency that has claimed the lives of hundreds of soldiers and militants since it re-ignited in 2004, with rebels often attacking government installations and personnel.

The province’s roughly seven million inhabitants have long complained they do not receive a fair share of its gas and mineral wealth.