Suicide Bomb Blast At Pakistan Hospital

A suicide bomb attack at a hospital in the Pakistani city of Quetta has killed at least 10 people, according to officials.

Emergency services said a TV cameraman and two officers - one of them a deputy superintendent of police - were among the dead.

Some 35 people were also injured in the blast at the city's Civil Hospital, in the country's southwest Balochistan province.

A number of people had gathered at the hospital to protest at the target killing of a Shi'ite bank manager earlier in the day.

Separately, a member of the National Assembly was at the facility on a visit. He is also among the injured.

The suicide bomber is thought to have walked into the hospital and detonated his explosives at the entrance to the emergency room.

Soon after the suicide blast, gunfire was heard coming from surrounding rooftops and nearby side-streets.

An injured policeman at the scene of the bombing

The emergency ward was full of the bank manager's friends and relatives when the bomber struck, according to police official Mohammad Sabir.

Journalists were at the hospital reporting on the fatal shooting.

Television pictures showed a number of walking wounded - including an officer with half his shirt torn off.

Windows of a number of vehicles parked outside the hospital were blown out and there was debris on the ground amongst discarded camera tripods and mobile phones.

A senior police investigator said the hospital bombing was an apparent "sectarian attack".

Authorities believe there are a number of al Qaeda and Taliban leaders in the Balochistan region who have set up a de facto headquarters, known as the Quetta Shura.

However, the information is they are more likely to have left the area now and moved to other parts of Pakistan such as Karachi.