Three killed in IED blast in Pakistan's Sindh

At least three people, including security personnel, were killed in a roadside blast in southern Pakistan Friday, police said.  

Two members of the Rangers -- an elite paramilitary security force -- were killed after an improvised explosive device detonated near their vehicle in the city of Ghotki in Sindh province, senior police officer Hafiz Abdul Qadir told AFP.  

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A second security official who spoke on the condition of anonymity also confirmed the attack and toll. 

Rural Sindh is home to some of Pakistan's most impoverished areas with powerful landowners holding vast sway over large populations of effectively indentured labourers, who have little in the way of access to education, healthcare or upward social mobility.  

In 2017, the Islamic State claimed a suicide blast at a Sufi shrine in Sindh which killed 90 people, in one of the bloodiest attacks to hit the province in years.

Pakistan has slashed militant violence in the country since launching a series of offensives since 2007 against homegrown insurgents as well as Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants -- often based near the lawless border with Afghanistan.

The offensives have also been coupled with operations by security agencies in urban areas, hitting militant networks hard and dramatically reducing violence across the country.  

Militant groups however still retain the ability to launch periodic attacks in many rurals areas of the country.