15 killed in suicide attack outside polio centre in Quetta

12 cops, one paramilitary soldier among the dead; TTP, Jundullah claim responsibility; PM, Zardari, others condemn blast

QUETTA: A suicide bomber killed at least 15 people, most of them policemen, outside a polio eradication centre in the city on Wednesday, the latest militant attack on the anti-polio campaign in the country.

Two militant groups — the Pakistani Taliban and Jundullah, which has links with the Taliban and has pledged allegiance to Islamic State — separately claimed responsibility for the attack.

The bomb blew up a police van that had just arrived at the centre to provide an escort for workers in a drive to immunise all children under five years in Balochistan. “It was a suicide blast, we have gathered evidence from the scene,” Ahsan Mehboob, Inspector General Police, told Reuters. “The police team had arrived to escort teams for the polio campaign.”

Ahmed Marwat, who identified himself as a commander and spokesman for Jundullah, said his group was responsible. “We claim the bomb blast on the polio office. In the coming days, we will make more attacks on polio vaccination offices and polio workers,” he said by telephone.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) also claimed responsibility in a statement released by their spokesman, Muhammad Khorasani. Teams in Pakistan working to immunise children against the virus are often targeted by the Taliban and other militant groups, who say the campaign is a cover for Western spies, or accuse workers of distributing drugs designed to sterilise children.

The latest attack killed at least 12 policemen, one paramilitary officer and two civilians, officials said. Twenty-five people were wounded.

Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where polio remains endemic, the World Health Organisation says. The campaign to eradicate the virus in Pakistan has had some recent success, with new cases down last year, but violence against vaccination workers has slowed the effort.  

APP adds: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif strongly condemned the bomb blast near a polio centre in Quetta.

The prime minister prayed for the departed souls in eternal peace. He expressed his resolve to root out terrorism from the country. “We will continue to pursue our operations till the elimination of last terrorist and will eliminate this mindset and extremist ideology,” he said according to a PM Office statement.

Nawaz said the country’s valiant security forces were successfully dismantling the infrastructure of terrorist networks. Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also condemned the blast and prayed for eternal rest and peace for the departed souls.