5 policemen killed, 15 injured in three suicide attacks in Pak's Balochistan

At least five policemen were killed and 15 others injured today in three separate suicide attacks targetting security personnel in Pakistan's restive south-western Balochistan province, police said.

The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Pakistan Army's media arm, said that in the first attack at Mian Gundu two suicide bombers struck a Frontier Corps (FC) check post on the outskirts of the provincial capital Quetta.

"The FC soldiers reacted swiftly as a result of which the two suicide bombers were killed in the firing," the ISPR said.

Eight security personnel and one bystander were injured in the attack.

"It was a targeted attack on the security forces carried out by militants but due to the swift reaction of the FC soldiers there were no casualties," Aslam Tareen, the Director General of Civil Defence, told the media.

He said while one suicide bomber was killed immediately the other was able to detonate himself before being gunned down.

The ISPR said a third suicide bomber targeted a police van on Airport Road area of Quetta, killing five policemen and wounding seven others.

The dead and injured were shifted to a local hospital as security forces cordoned off the area and launched search for the militants.

Nobody took responsibility of the attacks but the Taliban militants and Baloch nationalists often target security forces in the area.

In recent weeks, the militants have also stepped up attacks on the members of the minority Christian and Shia Hazara Muslim communities in Quetta.