Pakistan Taliban claim suicide blast killing 3, injuring 23

The blast targeted a police team preparing to escort polio vaccinators in the city of Quetta

Three people were killed and 23 injured Wednesday when a suicide bomber targeted a police truck in western Pakistan, an official said, an attack claimed by the domestic chapter of the Taliban.

The Pakistan Taliban — known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) — are separate from the Taliban in Afghanistan but share a common hardline Islamist ideology.

On Monday, the group declared an end to a shaky ceasefire with Islamabad declared over the summer and ordered nationwide attacks to resume.

Senior police official Azhar Mehesar told AFP the blast targeted a police team preparing to escort polio vaccinators in the city of Quetta and that those killed "include a policeman, a woman and a child".

In a statement to AFP, the TTP claimed responsibility for the "martyrdom attack".