14 killed in Quetta blast

Quetta (Pakistan): At least 14 people were killed in an explosion near a polio centre in Pakistan's Quetta's city on Wednesday, Balochistan Home Minister Mir Sarfaraz Bugti said.

Thirteen of the dead are policemen, Dawn quoted Bugti as saying. At least 10 people were injured.

"The blast was apparently carried out by a suicide bomber," Bugti told the media after the blast.

"We will not bow down before terrorists," said Bugti, adding the blast was aimed at disrupting peace in Balochistan.

Quetta Deputy Inspector General of Police Syed Imtiaz Shah said seven to eight kg explosive was used in the blast. He said the dead policemen had been posted to guard polio workers.

The injured were shifted to the civil hospital in Quetta, where an emergency has been imposed.

Rasheed Jamali, a senior doctor told Dawn that at least five critically injured victims were shifted to combined military hospital in Quetta.

Eyewitnesses said they heard firing after the loud blast. Police and rescue workers reached the site soon after the blast.

Security forces have cordoned off the area.