Pakistan Snooker Hall Blasts Kill Scores

At least 81 people have been killed after two bombs exploded at a snooker hall in southwest Pakistan, police say.

Police officer Mohammed Murtaza said the attack in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, also wounded more than 100 people.

The first suicide bomber detonated his device inside the club, then about 10 minutes later another attacker in a car outside the building blew himself up late in the evening, officer Mir Zubair Mehmood said.

Many people who rushed to the scene of the first blast were hit by the second bomb, which caused the roof of the building to collapse, Mr Murtaza said.

He added that most of the casualties were Shia Muslims. Policemen, journalists and rescue workers were also among the dead.

Police said the bombings disrupted power supplies and plunged the area into darkness.

The militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed responsibility for the attack to local journalists.

It came hours after a separate explosion targeting paramilitary soldiers in a crowded commercial area of the city left 11 dead.

The twin blasts are the worst attack in Quetta since a suicide bomber blew himself up at a 2010 Shiite rally, killing around 50 people.

Sunni Muslim extremists have stepped up attacks in Baluchistan against Shias, who they consider heretics.

Quetta is the capital of Baluchistan, one of the most deprived parts of Pakistan, which suffers from Islamist militancy, a separatist insurgency and sectarian violence.