Four people were martyred and 23 others injured Wednesday when a suicide bomber targeted a Balochistan Constabulary truck near Quetta, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Senior police official DIG Quetta Azhar Mehesar told reporters 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". Anohter injured later died in the hospital.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing.

The 23 injured included 19 security personnel and four civilians. Three vehicles including the BC truck were destroyed in the blast, the police officer said.

The suicide bomber was driving a rickshaw when he rammed the three-wheeler into the truck of the BC personnel at Baleli checkpost near Quetta city.

The DIG Quetta confirmed that it was a suicide blast and 20-25kg explosives were used in the explosion. After the blast the BC truck fell into a ditch.

According to police, three vehicles were destroyed in the terrorist attack. One of deceased was identified as ASI Ibrahim while the other two were a woman and an eight-month-old baby, Imran.

Manzoor Ahmed, Sikandar Khan, Muhammad Nawaz, Gul Jan, Abdul Haq and Muhammad Hanif were among the injured policemen.

Other persons including Zafar Khan, Nauman, Nadia and Adil were also among the wounded.

Tehreek–e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has claimed responsibility for the suicide attack.

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

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

Polio vaccination teams are routinely escorted by police in the western and south-western regions, and the TTP has made a habit of ambushing officers as they travel into those remote areas.

Pakistan officials on Monday launched a week-long immunisation campaign aiming to inoculate over 13 million children living in "high-risk districts".

In April, Pakistan reported its first case of polio in 15 months. Since then 20 cases have been reported, according to the government-funded End Polio Pakistan programme.

The latest terrorist strike came after security forces had killed some 20 militants during the last few days in different operations in Balochistan.

On Tuesday, security forces had killed 10 terrorists and nabbed one militant during an intelligence-based operation in Balochistan’s Hoshab area, the ISPR had said.

Ten terrorists had been killed and one of them sustained injuries in heavy exchange of fire, the ISPR said, adding that the forces nailed the injured and recovered a cache of arms and ammunition, including improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

A day earlier on Monday, the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) had eliminated a terrorist in a crossfire in Quetta city. The deceased terrorist belonged to banned Baloch Liberation Army (BLA).

On November 26, nine terrorists were killed in an intense fire exchange that took place between the terrorists and the security forces in Siah Koh area of Kohlu district, Balochistan. The security forces also captured four injured terrorists in the operation against the Balochistan Liberation Army’s terrorists.

The terrorists were involved in the Kohlu Bazar bomb blast that claimed four lives and injured 19 passers-by.

Reporter: Muhammad Isa Tareen

With inputs from AFP