1st LD Writethru: 12 injured in blast near hospital in Quetta, Pakistan

At least 12 people including four security personnel were injured in a blast near a hospital in Pakistan's southwest Quetta city on Thursday morning, local Urdu media and officials said.

Sarfraz Bugti, the Home Minister of Balochistan province, with Quetta as capital city, said that a roadside planted bomb was detonated by a remote controlled device when the squad of a religious court judge was passing by it near Al-Khair hospital of the city.

He said that the judge remained safe in the attack, however the bomb hit one of the vehicles of his convoy, injuring four security personnel of the squad.

Bugti said that an estimated three to four kg of explosives were used in the blast.

Dunya TV said that 12 injured people have been shifted to Civil Hospital and Combined Military Hospital of the city where two of them is said to be in critical condition.

Police arrested a suspected man near the blast site following the attack.

This is the second blast near hospital in Quetta over the last four days.

Earlier on Monday, a blast targeting lawyers in the civil hospital left 73 people killed and over 100 injured.

The country's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif chaired a special meeting of civil and military officials earlier on Wednesday to discuss the security situation in Quetta, following the Monday's blast.

Thursday's bomb attack came one day after the Pakistani army launched a combing operation against the militants in Quetta city and its suburbs.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet.

Police cordoned off the area for investigations. Endit