A police officer said a suicide attacker detonated his explosive vest at the entrance of a Shi'ite neighborhood in southwestern Pakistan July 17, killing one security guard.
The attack, which struck on the eve of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr, took place at Railway Colony in the city of Quetta.
Senior police officer Abdul Razzaq Cheema said the attacker, clad in female clothing, had attempted to sneak into the town. Guard Talib Hussain challenged the intruder, who then detonated his device, killing himself and the guard, Cheema said.
Cheema speculated that if the attacker had succeeded in entering the largely Shi'ite neighborhood, he would have attacked congregation members at dawn prayers on July 18.
No group claimed the attack, but Pakistan's Hazara Shi'ite minority has been a frequent target of the Al-Qaeda linked Lashker-e-Jhangvi militant group.