At least eight people, including seven police officers, have been killed and 21 wounded in an attack on a local police office in Pakistan, the authorities say.
Attaur Rehman, a senior police officer from Loralai, in the southwestern Balochistan Province, said the attack occurred during a test for recruitment of police clerks on January 29. Around 900 candidates were present at the time of attack, he added.
All three attackers were wearing suicide vests and were armed with automatic rifles. They tried to storm their way into the office and target the civilian candidates, Rehman said.
Two attackers had blown themselves up and the third was shot dead by the security forces, he said.
The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, but gave no further details.
Earlier this month, four members of the security forces were killed in an attack on a Frontier Corps training base in Loralai district, which is located some 260 kilometers northwest of the provincial capital, Quetta.
Resource-rich Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran, has been plagued by sectarian violence, Islamist militant attacks, and a separatist insurgency that has led to thousands of casualties since 2004.
With reporting by Dawn, Reuters, dpa, and AP