Police: Suicide attacker strikes Shiite neighborhood in SW Pakistan, killing 3 and wounding 17

QUETTA, Pakistan – A police officer says a suicide attacker has blown himself up in a Shiite neighborhood in southwestern Pakistan, killing at least 3 people and wounding 17.

Police chief Abdur Razzak Cheema says the bomber struck on Saturday in the Hazara Town neighborhood in the city of Quetta.

Cheema says the bomber was approaching the local market when police stopped him at a checkpoint. At that point, he detonated his explosives.

Cheema says a woman was among the three killed, and two women and four children were among the wounded.

The neighborhood and its surroundings are dominated by minority Shiites and have seen bombings and suicide attacks in the past.

Quetta is the capital of Baluchistan province, where the al-Qaeda-linked Lashker Jhangvi group operates, along with Baluch separatist and nationalist groups.