At least 29 people were killed and over 70 injured today when a suicide bomber blew himself up near a Shia mosque in Pakistan's southwestern city of Quetta today.
City Police Officer Mir Zubair Mehmood said that at least 29 people were killed in the blast in a crowded area 40 to 50 metres away from Abu Talib Imambargah at the Shia-majority Hazara town.
Mehmood said the dead included nine women as well as four children.
He said suicide bomber was stopped at the entrance of the Imambargah by policemen and volunteers as he tried to enter the building and then blew himself up.
"The explosion caused a transformer close to the Imambargah to also explode and these two blasts caused lot of widespread casualties and damage," he said.
He said bomb disposal squad was also investigating that the second blast was caused by a remote controlled bomb.
Mehmood said the suicide bomber whose severed head had been recovered from the site had come on a cycle alone.
The blasts caused damage to the shops and nearby buildings as well.
"It was an attack targeting Hazara Shia community," he said.
The dreaded and outlawed Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) claimed responsibility of the attack, saying that the first attack was a suicide blast while the second was carried out by a remote-controlled device.
This is not the first time the LEJ has carried out a attack in Hazara town which is dominated by Shia Muslims.
In February this year two blasts in the Kirani market of the town killed atleast 100 people and injured dozens.
