Twin blasts at billiard hall in Pakistan kill 52

— Police say the death toll from a twin bombing at a billiard hall in southwest Pakistan has risen to 52.

Police officer Mohammed Murtaza says the attack in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, also wounded more than 100 people.

Police officer Hamid Shakeel said the bombs went off about 10 minutes apart late Thursday evening.

Murtaza said many people were killed and wounded when the second bomb caused the building to collapse. He said many of the dead and wounded are Shiite Muslims.

Radical Sunni Muslims have stepped up attacks in Baluchistan this year against Shiites, who they consider heretics.

No group has claimed responsibility for the bombing.

Baluchistan has experienced a decades-long insurgency by nationalists who demand greater autonomy and a larger share of the province’s natural resources.

It is also home to many Islamist militants, including the Taliban.

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