Suicide bombing in southwestern Pakistan kills 9 policemen

Pakistani officials say a suicide bomber riding on a motorcycle targeted a police truck in the restive southwestern Baluchistan province, killing at least nine policemen and wounding seven. The bombing took place on a bridge in the district of Sibi. A local police chief says the officers were on a routine patrol when the bomber struck. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing but Baluch separatists and local militants have been blamed for previous such attacks. Baluchistan has long struggled with a low-level insurgency by the Baluchistan Liberation Army and other small separatist groups demanding independence from the central government in Islamabad.