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Several killed in Pakistan suicide blast near Afghan border

Suicide bomber on a motorbike blows himself up in southwestern Quetta city, killing at least three paramilitary guards and wounding dozens others, police say. Banned terror group TTP claims responsibility.

AP

Security officials examine the site of suicide bombing in a checkpoint on the outskirts of Quetta, Pakistan, on September 5, 2021.

A suicide bomber has detonated his explosives near a security checkpoint in restive southwestern Pakistan, killing at least three paramilitary troops and wounding 15 others, police said.

Senior police officer Azhar Akram said on Sunday the attacker had walked toward the checkpoint manned by the paramilitary Frontier Corps on Quetta-Mastung Road, some 25 kilometres south of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province.

He said body parts were found at a distance from the security post after the bombing.

Akram said some of the wounded were in critical condition and the death toll could rise.

TTP takes responsibility

Banned terror group Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, also known as the Pakistani Taliban or TTP, claimed responsibility for the morning attack.

It was the first time TTP claimed an attack on Pakistani security forces since the Taliban – a separate organisation –took control of neighbouring Afghanistan.

TTP is designated by US as a terror group.

Balochistan has also seen a low-level insurgency by Baloch separatist and terror groups for nearly two decades calling for independence or more rights for the gas and mineral rich province.

Most attacks on security forces in Baluchistan in the recent past have been claimed by Baloch Liberation Army – a US-designated terror group, and Baloch Liberation Front.

China-led projects

Balochistan, bordering Iran and Afghanistan, is a key province in southwest Pakistan, where China has been working on projects related to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

The projects, including road construction, power plants and agricultural development, have cost billions of dollars.

China has in recent years also played a key role in developing the deep-water port of Gwadar on the Arabian Sea. But there have been attacks on Pakistanis and Chinese working on the economic corridor projects.

A suicide bomber last month detonated his explosives near a vehicle carrying Chinese workers, killing two Pakistani children playing by the roadside and wounding a Chinese national and two other Pakistanis in the port city of Gwadar.

Pakistan blamed India for the attack, a charge India denied.

SOURCE: AP