Pakistan: Dozens dead in bomb attack on Quetta market

At least 63 people have been killed and more than 180 wounded in a bomb attack in a Shia-dominated part of the south-western Pakistani city of Quetta.

The blast occurred in a crowded market place in an ethnic Hazara area of the city.

It is the second major attack on Quetta's 600,000-strong Hazara community in five weeks.

A twin suicide bomb attack at a crowded snooker club on 10 January killed at least 92 people and wounded 121.

The bomb went off in a market area housing grocery stores, vegetable shops, language schools and a computer centre.

It happened in the late afternoon as people, mainly women, were shopping for groceries and children were coming out of their classes.

The district is dominated by ethnic Hazaras, who mostly belong to the Shia Muslim minority in Pakistan.

Quetta police chief Mir Zubai Mehmood told the media that some 70kg to 80kg explosives had been planted inside a water tank that had been installed on a tractor trailer.

The blast brought down nearby buildings, and police said they feared some people remain trapped under the rubble.

In the past Shia leaders and human rights campaigners have accused Pakistan's government of incompetence or collusion, the BBC's Orla Guerin reports from Islamabad.