![A mortuary worker shows the body of a Pakistani policeman who was killed in Quetta June 11. Gunmen on a motorcycle killed three police officers at a local check-point before fleeing, said authorities. Local ISIS affiliate LeJ later claimed responsibility for the targeted killings. [Banaras Khan/AFP]](/cnmi_pf/images/2017/06/12/8204-000_pg64j-739_416.webp)
QUETTA -- Gunmen riding a motorcycle killed three policemen at a check-point in Quetta on Sunday (June 11) before fleeing the scene, authorities said, in an attack later claimed by a local affiliate of the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS).
The incident occurred on Saryab Road in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan Province, Deputy Inspector General of Police Abdul Razzaq Cheema told AFP.
Dr. Farid Sumalani, head of the Sandeman Provincial Hospital, confirmed the incident.
Ali Bin Sufyan, a spokesman for the al-Alami branch of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) militant group, sent AFP a text message taking responsibility.
ISIS has been making inroads in Pakistan through alliances with local militant outfits such as LeJ and the Jamatul Ahrar faction of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), though its presence is generally downplayed by the government.
LeJ and ISIS have claimed joint responsibility for several major attacks in the region, including one on lawyers and journalists in Quetta that killed more than 70 people last summer.
Last week, ISIS said it had killed two Chinese citizens who were kidnapped last month by armed gunmen in Quetta.
ISIS made that claim in a brief Arabic message carried by its Amaq news agency Thursday (June 8), though there was no immediate confirmation from Chinese or Pakistani officials.
