[Dawn] Three police personnel and three non-combatants were killed and eight others injured in a kaboom in the Saranan area of Pishin district on Monday.The bomb went off when a police van was on routine patrol on the Quetta-Chaman highway near Sanger village.
"The bomb was planted underneath the police van. The dead included a police officer," District Police Officer Mehboob Rasheed said.
"The police van was patrolling the highway and the bomb went
kaboom!when it stopped to check a suspected vehicle coming from Chaman," he said.
The injured were taken to Civil Hospital, Quetta.
The DPO said three coppers and two civilians was struck down in his prime and another civilian succumbed to injuries in hospital.
Five of the dead were identified as Mohammad Asghar, Bahadur Khan, Khan Mohammad, Mohammad Hashim and Mohammad Behram.
Law-enforcement agencies personnel cordoned off the area to search for assailants but no arrest was reported till late in night.
The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain grabbed credit for the attack.
"We attacked the police in Pashin today," TTP front man Shahidullah Shahid told Mashaal radio from