QUETTA, Pakistan – A suicide attack on a polio vaccination center in southwestern Pakistan on Wednesday killed 14 people, officials said.
The bombing of the polio center on the outskirts of Quetta city killed 12 police, a soldier and a civilian, said Syed Imtiaz Shah, the local police chief. Another 23 people were wounded, he said.
The suicide bomber detonated his explosives among the police officers, who were on patrol, said provincial home minister Sarfraz Bugti. "We're in a war zone," he said.
The bombing happened outside the polio center shortly before vaccination teams were due to be dispatched to local neighborhoods as part of a three-day immunization campaign, Shah said.
No one has claimed responsibility for the blast.
Polio workers in Pakistan, and their police escorts, have been the victims of several terrorist attacks in recent years.