12 girls killed, Quetta hospital under siege

ISLAMABAD (PAN’s southwestern Balochistan province.

The bus was carrying female students to their hostel in Quetta, the provincial capital, when the blast occurred in the afternoon, police commander Meer Zubair told reporters.

A dozen girls were killed and more than 20 others were wounded in the blast, he said.

A second blast and gunfire occurred when the injured students were taken to the emergency ward of Bolan hospital, where family, friends and rescuers had arrived.

Nearly seven fighters had taken positions inside the hospital. Deputy police chief, Abdul Mansoor Kakar, and two paramilitary soldiers were also killed and deputy commissioner of Quetta was wounded in clashes with the attackers, security officials said.

Police said the gunmen had taken over parts of the hospital after the two bomb blasts. The armed men captured different sections of the hospital complex and were positioned on rooftops, said the head of police operations in Quetta, Fayaz Sumbal.

Frontier Corps troops, and police commandos have been called in, and security officials were trying to clear the hospital as quickly as possible, he said.

Footage on Pakistani television of the still unfolding crisis showed people fleeing from the hospital after the explosion and hiding behind ambulances in the parking lot.

myn/ma

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