Suicide bomb blast in Pakistan kills 3, wounds 28

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Suicide bomb blast in Pakistan kills 3, wounds 28

QUETTA, Pakistan - A suicide bomb blast in Pakistan's southwest city of Quetta targeted a police patrol on Wednesday, killing three people and wounding 28, police said.

The explosion, claimed by the Pakistani Taliban militant group, or Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan TTP, came after the group ended a ceasefire with the government this week.

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A bomb blast targeting a police patrol wounded more than 30 people, including 15 police, according to a police official, Abdul Haq, told Reuters. A policeman, a woman and a child died of them. This AFP graphic dated November 30, 2022 shows the map of Pakistan locating the western city of Quetta, where a deadly suicide blast was reported on Wednesday.

The patrol had been guarding a polio vaccine team at the time of the suicide blast, he said.

Islamist militants in Pakistan often target polio vaccine teams in the belief that the immunization effort is a Western tool to spy on them.

Quetta is the capital of Pakistan's Balochistan province bordering Afghanistan and Iran, where both Islamist and separatist insurgents operate.