Twenty-five people were injured in the blast, which occurred in the city of Quetta in Balochistan province, police official Dilawar Khan told dpa.
Advertisement
Sarfraz Bugti, Balochistan home minister added: “So far 15 people have been injured in the blast, seven of whom are in critical condition”.
At least, 15 was murdered in a boost obviously targeting authorities on Thursday outside a polio vaccination center within the Pakistani town of Quetta, based on authorities.
Provincial authorities said vaccinators and security officers had gathered at the vaccination center Wednesday before being dispatched throughout Quetta during an ongoing three-day immunization campaign when the bomber struck. “The police team had arrived to escort teams for the polio campaign”.
Police and rescue workers reached the site immediately after the blast, while security forces have sealed the area.
Dozens of people have been assassinated in the militants’ drive to prevent vaccinations and health teams in parts of the country travel with armed guards. There was no claim of responsibility for the blast in Jalalabad, which is the main trade gateway to the Khyber Pass and Pakistan.
Polio workers in Pakistan, and their police escorts, have been the victims of several terrorist attacks in recent years.
The deputy commissioner, Dawood Khilji in Quetta, said the death toll had climbed with 14 police officers plus one passerby supported deceased. The area has been completely cordoned off and at least thirteen injured were shifted to hospitals.
“We are living in a war zone and I can’t say anything about the nature of the blast”, he added.
Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where the disease remains endemic.
Pakistan’s army is fighting a military campaign against Taliban and other militants in the country’s northwest near the Afghan border.
Militants have claimed that polio vaccination programs are a front for espionage or used to sterilize Muslims. Last year, 49 new cases of polio were reported in Pakistan, a huge drop from 282 in 2014.
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.
Advertisement
The past assault on a polio goal in Pakistan is believed to have taken place in northwestern Swabi district in November 2015, when the local polio coordinator was shot dead by unknown gunmen.
