QUETTA, Pakistan: A bomb hidden between bags of potatoes at an outdoor Pakistani market killed at least 16 people on Friday, half of them ethnic Hazaras, officials said, in an attack apparently aimed at minority Shi'ite Muslims.
The attack came after a lull of at least a year in violence against the mainly Shi'ite Hazara minority in Baluchistan, though there have been isolated shootings."I have confirmation of 16 martyrs - eight belong to the Hazara community, seven others who worked here, and one is from the Frontier Constabulary," a city police official, Abdul Razzaq Cheema, told reporters.No group immediately claimed responsibility.
Ethnic Baluch separatists are also fighting against what they call the unfair exploitation of their province's gas and other resources.