Deadly car bomb hits Pakistan’s Quetta city

Pakistani police say ten people were killed after a car bomb exploded outside a mosque following Eid prayers.

Pakistan Quetta Car bombing
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The blast occurred as hundreds of people were leaving a Quetta mosque to mark Eid al-Fitr, the Islamic holiday [AFP]

Ten people have been killed and at least a dozen others wounded in a car bomb attack in the city of Quetta in southwest Pakistan, police have said.

The explosion occurred outside a mosque on Wednesday as hundreds of people were leaving after morning prayers, Abdul Jamil, a police officer told the AP news agency.

Jamil said the attack damaged 10 vehicles and several nearby buildings.

Worshippers were coming out of their congressional prayers marking Eid al-Fitr, the Islamic holiday that comes at the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said.

According to the Quetta police chief, a car packed with explosives had entered a parking lot, attempting to head for the mosque, Hyder said.

The police intervened to stop the vehicle from nearing the mosque, at which point the suicide bomber denotated the device, he added.

No group immediately claimed responsibility.

Baluchistan, the province of which Quetta is the capital, is home to both the Taliban and nationalists who have waged a decades-long fight against the government.

Source: Al Jazeera, News Agencies