Suspected suicide attack kills at least nine police officers in southwestern Pakistan

At least nine police officers were killed and 11 others injured in a suspected suicide blast in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province on Monday, authorities said, the latest in a string of recent attacks against security personnel in the South Asian nation.

Kachhi Police senior superintendent Mehmood Notezai said a vehicle carrying policemen was targeted in the province’s Sibi district. “Preliminary evidence suggests it was a suicide attack,” he said, adding an investigation was underway. There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack so far.

Among the injured officers, three remain in critical condition and are receiving hospital treatment, Sibi’s Combined Military Hospital administration said.

Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province by area, has seen a decades-long insurgency by separatists who demand independence from the country, citing what they say is the state’s monopoly and exploitation of the region’s mineral resources.

Source: Somali National News Agency