QUETTA, Pakistan — A string of bombings in Pakistan including a twin suicide attack on a snooker hall used by Shiite Muslims has left 115 people dead, in one of the nation's deadliest days in years.
At least 82 people were killed and 121 wounded Thursday when two suicide bombers blew themselves up at the crowded snooker club in an area of the southwestern city of Quetta dominated by the Shiite community, a police officer said.
Extremist Sunni militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed responsibility for what was the worst single attack ever on the minority community, which accounts for around 20 percent of Pakistan's 180 million-strong population.
It was also the deadliest attack in Pakistan since twin suicide bombers killed 98 people outside a police training centre in the northwestern town of Shabqadar on May 13, 2011 -- shortly after US troops killed Osama bin Laden.
Earlier Thursday, a bomb detonated under a security forces' vehicle in a crowded part of Quetta, killing 11 people and wounding dozens more.
And in a third incident, a bomb exploded at a religious gathering in the northwestern Swat valley, killing 22 people and wounding more than 80, in the deadliest incident in the district since the army in 2009 fought off a two-year Taliban insurgency
At least 82 people were killed and 121 wounded Thursday when two suicide bombers blew themselves up at the crowded snooker club in an area of the southwestern city of Quetta dominated by the Shiite community, a police officer said.
Extremist Sunni militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed responsibility for what was the worst single attack ever on the minority community, which accounts for around 20 percent of Pakistan's 180 million-strong population.
It was also the deadliest attack in Pakistan since twin suicide bombers killed 98 people outside a police training centre in the northwestern town of Shabqadar on May 13, 2011 -- shortly after US troops killed Osama bin Laden.
Earlier Thursday, a bomb detonated under a security forces' vehicle in a crowded part of Quetta, killing 11 people and wounding dozens more.
And in a third incident, a bomb exploded at a religious gathering in the northwestern Swat valley, killing 22 people and wounding more than 80, in the deadliest incident in the district since the army in 2009 fought off a two-year Taliban insurgency