Gunmen raid checkpoint, kill three policemen in Pakistan

Gunmen riding a motorcycle have shot dead at least three policemen at a checkpoint in southwestern Pakistan.

Abdul Razzaq Cheema, a senior police official, said the attack was carried out on the main Saryab Road in the southwestern city of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province.

The assailants managed to flee on the motorcycle.

Farid Sumalani, the head of the Sandeman Provincial Hospital, confirmed the fatal incident.

A local affiliate of the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the deadly attack. Ali Bin Sufyan, a spokesman for the Al Alami branch of the notorious terrorist group known as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), said its fighters carried out the shooting.

In recent months, Daesh, which is wreaking havoc mainly in Iraq and Syria, has been making inroads in Pakistan through alliances with local militant outfits such as LeJ and the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a breakaway faction of the Pakistani Taliban.

LeJ has claimed joint responsibility along with Daesh for several major attacks in the region including one on lawyers in Quetta that killed more than 70 people in August last year.

Earlier this week, Daesh said it had killed two Chinese citizens who were kidnapped last month by armed men in Quetta.

Quetta, the largest city of Balochistan, has seen several bombings and shooting attacks over the past years. A large number of Shia Muslims have been killed in the attacks there.

SS