by Misbah Saba Malik, Jamil Bhatti
ISLAMABAD, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- Security has been beefed up in Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province after a deadly attack at a police training center in the province's capital of Quetta.
The attack, which claimed 60 lives and injured 117 others, took place late Monday at the Sariab Training Center, some 20 km away from downtown Quetta, said Interior Minister of Balochistan Sarfaraz Bugti.
The minister also announced a three-day mourning in the province while Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces announced one day mourning over the incident.
The Islamic State (IS) claimed the fatal attack. The militant group's Al-Amaq news agency stated that three IS fighters used machine guns and grenades and later blew up their explosive vests in the crowd during the attack.
Pakistani Army chief Raheel Sharif, accompanied by other senior army officers, flew to Quetta and attended funeral prayers of the under-training policemen who belonged to different districts of the province.
The army chief also visited the police training center and met senior officers of police, army and paramilitary troops, Frontier Corps (FC) and appreciated the morale, courage and determination of security forces for preventing further damage and saving many lives, said the army's Inter-Services Public Relations.
Bodies of the killed cadets were handed over to their relatives following the funeral, which was also attended by senior government officials including the Chief Minister Balochistan.
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