In restive southwestern Pakistan, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives near a security checkpoint, killing at least three paramilitary men and wounded 15 others.
According to senior police officer Azhar Akram, the assailant walked towards a checkpoint guarded by the paramilitary Frontier Corps on Quetta-Mastung Road, 25 kilometers (15 miles) south of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province.
According to Akram, a suicide bomber on a motorcycle carrying 6kg of explosives attacked one of the convoy trucks.
He claimed several of the injured were in severe condition and that the death toll could grow, adding that body parts were discovered after the attack at a distance from the security post.
Pakistan Taliban, a banned armed organization known by the acronym TTP, claimed responsibility for the attack.
It was the first time the TTP claimed responsibility for an attack on Pakistani security personnel since the Taliban – a different group – seized control of Afghanistan.
TTP has recently stepped up its fight against the Pakistani army, after renewing its loyalty to the Afghan Taliban following the fall of Kabul.
Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned the TTP suicide attack on the FC checkpoint at Mastung Road, Quetta, in a tweet.
The attacks are still going on
Baloch separatist groups have waged a low-level armed uprising in Balochistan for two decades, calling for the province's independence. Baloch separatist groups Baloch Liberation Army and Baloch Liberation Front have claimed responsibility for the majority of recent attacks against security troops in Balochistan.
Balochistan is an important province in southwest Pakistan, bordering Iran and Afghanistan, where China has been working on projects related to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Road construction, power plants, and agricultural expansion are among the projects that have cost billions of dollars.
China has also played a crucial role in the development of Gwadar, a deep-water port on the Arabian Sea, in recent years. However, attacks on Pakistanis and Chinese workers on the economic corridor projects have occurred.
In the port city of Gwadar, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives beside a van transporting Chinese workers, killing two Pakistani children who were playing by the roadside and wounded a Chinese person and two other Pakistanis.
Last month, suspected separatists detonated a hand grenade in a Quetta store selling national flags, killing one man and injuring four others who were buying flags to commemorate Pakistan's independence day.
