Update, 11:16 am: Pakistan has suspended the anti-polio campaign underway in Quetta, where at least 14 people were killed in an "apparent suicide" blast near a polio vaccination centre on Tuesday, Dawn reported.
The anti-polio campaign was launched in Quetta and other districts of Balochistan province on Monday. The polio workers were dispatched from Quetta centre after the blast.
The polio centres and teams have often been targeted by militant groups, which claim polio vaccination is a plot to sterilise Pakistani children.
According to the World Health Organisation, Pakistan and Afghanistan remains the only two polio-endemic countries. Pakistan has higher polio cases than Afghanistan.
Update, 10:49 am: At least 14 people were killed and more than 10 others injured in a blast near a government-run polio centre in Quetta Satellite Town in Balochistan province of Pakistan, according to Dawn.
"The blast was apparently carried out by a suicide bomber," Home Minister Mir Sarfaraz Bugti said.
Bugti said the blast was an attempt to disrupt peace in Balochistan. "We will not bow down before terrorists," he added.
Among the victims were 13 policemen and one member from the Frontier Corps paramilitary forces.
Quetta Deputy Inspector General Police Syed Imtiaz Shah said seven to eight kgs of explosives were used in the blast.
Original Story:
At least five people were killed and several others were injured in a blast near a government-run polio centre in Pakistan's Quetta Satellite Town on Wednesday, Samaa TV reported.
A few members of the polio team were also kiled in the blast. According to the report, the injured people were rushed to a civil hospital.
Rescue officials and police reached the blast site and they have cordoned off the area.
The nature of the blast is not known yet.
