Twin blasts at a snooker hall in the south-western Pakistani city of Quetta have killed at least 56 people and injured more than 100, police say.

Many of the casualties were caused by the second blast as police and media rushed to the scene.

Earlier, a bomb in a market area killed 11 people and injured 27 more, police said.

A spokesman for a militant group, the United Baloch Army, said it had carried out that attack.

Balochistan is plagued by a separatist rebellion and sectarian infighting between Sunnis and Shias.

The Taliban and armed groups that support them also carry out attacks in the province, particularly in areas near the Afghan border. Pakistan’s military has been engaged in a long-running battle against those militant groups.

‘Cameraman killed’

A senior police officer, Hamid Shakil, told Agence France-Presse news agency that the first bomb at the snooker hall had exploded outside the building and that the second blast occurred 10 minutes later as rescue workers, police and media arrived.

The first blast appeared to have been carried out by a suicide bomber on foot, police said, while the second was a suicide car bombing.

The dead reportedly included a cameraman from a television channel and at least five policemen.

Home Secretary Akbar Durrani told AFP the bombings were in an area dominated by the minority Shia Muslim community.

Mr Shakil said that many of the dead and wounded were Shia, adding that the death toll could rise.

No-one has yet said they carried out the attack.

TV footage of the earlier market attack showed survivors picking through debris, and emergency crews taking away the wounded.

“Frontier Corps [paramilitary] personnel were the target because the bomb was planted underneath their vehicle,” senior police investigator Hamid Shakeel told AFP news agency.

The dead include one paramilitary soldier and two civilian officers.

Also on Thursday, at least 21 people were killed and more than 80 injured in an explosion near Mingora in Pakistan’s north-western Swat valley.

The blast took place at a religious gathering.

Police initially said the explosion was caused by a gas canister, but a senior official later said it was a bomb.

Swat has been controlled by the Pakistani army since it drove out the Taliban in 2009, but the militants still carry out attacks, most notably on schoolgirl campaigner Malala Yousufzai last October.

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