david waker 
Three killed as suicide bomb blast hits Pakistan police vehicle
A suicide bomb blast has struck a police vehicle in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, killing at least one police officer and two civilians and wounding dozens, according to police.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) armed group, also known as the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s attack, two days after announcing an end to a ceasefire agreed with the government in June.
Quetta Police’s Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Ghulam Azfar Mahesar told reporters the vehicle that was targeted was carrying security personnel deployed to protect polio vaccination campaign workers in the capital of Pakistan’s Balochistan province.
Mahesar said the incident in Buleli district wounded at least 24 people, 20 of whom are policemen. He added that two other vehicles were also damaged in the attack.
Javed Akhtar, an official at the government hospital in Quetta, told Al Jazeera that a four-year old girl and a woman were among the civilian casualties.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the explosion, expressing his grief over the death of civilians and police officialPolio workers are performing their duties to end this disease without fearing for their lives. Ending polio completely is among the top priorities of the government,” he said.
Federal Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah also issued a statement, denouncing the attack and asking for a detailed investigation into the incidentBalochistan Chief Minister Abdul Quddus Bizenjo pledged to counter the “cowardly act”. “All those involved in this incident and their facilitators will be brought under the law,” he said.
The TTP later issued a statement, claiming responsibility for the attack.This attack was carried out after the announcement to end ceasefire, and was planned to take revenge for the death of Omar Khalid Khorasani. Our attacks will continue,” it said.Khorasani was a senior TTP leader who was killed in a car bomb blast in Afghanistan in August.
