QUETTA: At least three police personnel including DIG Hamid Shakeel were killed in a powerful blast that targeted the vehicle of senior cop of Balochistan police in Quetta area of Chaman Housing Scheme on Thursday morning. The blast left at least six others wounded in the early morning blast. All the bodies and the wounded have been...

The blast left at least six others wounded in the early morning blast. All the bodies and the wounded have been shifted to hospital.

Personnel of FC and police rushed to the blast site and cordoned off the entire area. Search for the miscreants has been kick-started.

AFP adds: A suspected suicide bomber killed a senior police official and two of his colleagues in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta on Thursday, officials said, in the latest attack targeting security forces in the restive province.

Officials said the attack hit the vehicle of Quetta's Deputy Inspector General of Police Hamid Shakil during his morning commute in the provincial capital.

"Hamid Shakil, his driver and an assistant sub-inspector were martyred when a suspected suicide bomber struck his motorcycle with his vehicle," senior police official Naseeb Ullah told AFP.

Four other policemen were also wounded in the bombing, the officer said, adding that Shakil was wounded in the blast but died en route to hospital.

Commissioner Quetta Amjad Ali Khan confirmed the attack and said that according to initial reports it was a suicide bombing, but he would wait for investigators to follow up on the nature of the incident.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the blast but an Islamic State group affiliate have claimed a string of recent attacks in the province.

Quetta is the capital of Balochistan province, which borders Iran and Afghanistan and has oil and gas resources.