A roadside bomb struck a paramilitary truck in Pakistan's troubled south-western province of Balochistan on Thursday, killing at least 11 people, police said, dpa reported.
The explosion targeted members of the Rapid Response Group, an elite unit of the Balochistan Constabulary paramilitary force, on the outskirts of provincial capital Quetta.
"Nine commandoes embraced martyrdom and 13 others sustained injuries when the blast ripped through their vehicle," Mohammed Rehman, a duty officer at Quetta police control, told dpa by telephone.
Rehman said two civilian passers-by were also killed and seven wounded in the explosion.
Bomb disposal experts said up to 100 kilogrammes of explosives were used in the bomb.
Baloch separatists and Taliban-linked extremists are active in the region, which routinely sees deadly attacks on security forces as well as civilian targets.
Authorities called on residents to help track down insurgents.
"Terrorism cannot be defeated only by setting up pickets, the fight can only be won if people identify these elements living among them," the province's police chief Mushtaq Ahmad Sukhera told reporters at the blast scene.