Dozens killed in twin blasts at Pakistan billiards hall

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Naseer Ahmed / ReutersA paramilitary soldier reacts as he asks civilian to leave the scene of a bomb explosion in Quetta on Thursday.By Mujib Ahmed and Andrew Mach, NBC NewsUpdated 7 p.m. ET: The death toll from twin bombings on a billiards hall Thursday in southwest Pakistan rose to 81, with at least 120 more injured, according to a senior police official.

Police officer Hamid Shakeel said the bombs went off about 10 minutes apart, The Associated Press reported, with the second blast causing the building to collapse. Several nearby shops, homes and offices were also damaged.

Follow @NBCNewsWorld  Lashkar e Jhangvi, a Sunni Muslim militant organization aligned with al-Qaida, took responsibility for the attack.

Many of the dead and wounded were Shiite Muslims, officials said; police officers, journalists and rescue workers who responded to the initial explosion were also among the dead, the AP reported.

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