Suicide blast kills 4 in southwestern Pakistan

By Islamuddin Sajid

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan

At least four people including two women and a child were killed and 20 others injured in a suspected suicide attack in southwestern city of Quetta on Saturday, security officials said.

Police said a suspected suicide bomber blew himself up near a security forces convoy.

"Four civilians, including two women and a child, were killed and 20 others were injured in the the explosion," Abdul Razzaq Cheema, Deputy Inspector General of Police in Quetta told reporters, according local media reports.

He added that the injured, mostly civilians, have been shifted to Civil Hospital Quetta, where some are in critical condition.

The explosion damaged several vehicles parked in the vicinity and shattered the windows of nearby buildings.

In a statement, Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an outlawed militant group, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Pakistan's mineral-rich Balochistan province, of which Quetta is capital, has been plagued with violence for over six decades.

Over the course of the last decade, the province has also faced a deadly wave of sectarian violence in which hundreds have been killed.