Pakistan: 9 security personnel killed in Bolan suicide blast

At least nine personnel of the Balochistan Constabulary were killed and nine others suffered injuries in a suicide bomb attack in Bolan, reported Geo News.

"The constabulary van was on its way back to Quetta from Sibi when an explosion occurred on the Kambri bridge in the area bordering the Sibi and Kachhi districts," Dawn quoted Kachhi Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Mahmood Notezai as saying.

A motorcyclist, believed to be a suicide bomber, rammed his bike into a police van, an official told the Pakistan daily. However, the exact nature of the blast could be ascertained after investigations.

The injured persons have taken to the Sibi Civil Hospital and bomb disposal squads and security personnel have arrived at the site, SSP Notezai said.

A government helicopter has been sent to Bolan to shift the injured persons to Quetta, the Balochistan Information Department said in a statement.Pakistan is facing violence from Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an offshoot of the Afghan Taliban movement that is ideologically aligned with the Afghan branch but draws its leaders from within Pakistan.

The TTP has claimed responsibility for many attacks in the latest spate of terrorism in Pakistan; a TTP splinter group said it had carried out the January 30 mosque attack in Peshawar that killed 101 worshippers, most of them policemen, reported Foreign Policy. More than 8,000 members of Pakistan's security forces have lost their lives in terrorist incidents since 2000. In 2014, the TTP attacked Peshawar's Army Public School, killing 141 people, including 132 children of military officers and soldiers.

The January 30 attack targeted policemen. Both attacks appeared intended to demoralize the Pakistani military and law enforcement and to dissuade Pakistan's leaders from going to battle with the TTP. Periodic negotiations between the Pakistani government and terrorist groups in recent years have only convinced the terrorists that the authorities lack the resolve for a sustained fight.

Several peace deals and cease-fire agreements between Islamabad and the TTP have broken down. Last November, the TTP terminated the latest cease-fire, negotiated last June, and threatened new attacks across Pakistan in retaliation for the security service's actions.