Bloodiest day in years for Pakistan as blasts kill 115

Residents search for victims at the site of a bomb attack in the Pakistani city of Quetta 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 on 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. The first suicide bomber struck inside the building, then 10 minutes later an attacker in a car outside blew himself up as police, media workers and rescue teams rushed to the site, said officer Mir Zubair Mehmood.
Nine police personnel, three local journalists and several rescue workers were among those killed, officials said.
The US-based Human Rights Watch criticised the government for failing to protect the Shiite community, which accounts for 20 percent of the population, adding that 2012 was the deadliest year on record for Shiites in Pakistan.
The bombings damaged several shops and nearby buildings. At least four local ambulance service vehicles were destroyed and people were seen wailing beside bodies lying on the ground.
Extremist Sunni militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed responsibility for what was the worst single attack ever on the minority community. The group has links to al-Qaeda and the Taliban and was among several involved in the kidnap and beheading of reporter Daniel Pearl in January 2002.
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.
Quetta has long been a flashpoint for attacks against Shiites, in particular those from the ethnic Hazara minority, as well as suffering from attacks linked to a separatist insurgency and Islamist militancy.
The worst single attack in Pakistan killed 139 people in Karachi on October 19, 2007, at the homecoming of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and on October 28, a car bomb destroyed a clothing market in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing 134 people.