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Pakistan Mosque Blast Kills 15, Including Senior Police Officer


Soldiers stand guard at the premises of a mosque after a bomb blast in Quetta, the capital of southwestern Balochistan Province.
Soldiers stand guard at the premises of a mosque after a bomb blast in Quetta, the capital of southwestern Balochistan Province.

QUETTA -- A senior police officer and 12 other people have been killed in a bomb blast in the Pakistani southwestern city of Quetta, officials say.

Police said more than 10 people were also wounded in the January 10 explosion, which took place during evening prayers at a mosque in a satellite town of the capital of Balochistan Province.

A deputy superintendent of police was among those killed.

Some of the wounded were said to be in a critical condition.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Resource-rich Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran, has been plagued by sectarian violence, Islamist militant attacks, and a separatist insurgency that has led to thousands of casualties since 2004.

On January 7 in Quetta, a bomb blast hit a paramilitary force vehicle, killing two troops.

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