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Sectarian bombing in Pakistan kills 65

QUETTA, Pakistan, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- Protesters in Pakistan threw rocks at police cars and set fires in the street Saturday after a bomb attack in a Shiite neighborhood killed at least 65 people.

The bomb -- apparently detonated by remote control -- injured at least 175 people in a crowded market in Qetta, including a number of women and children, the Los Angeles Times said.

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"The death toll may rise," senior police officer Wazir Khan Nasir told DAWN.com. "It was a remote-controlled bomb."

The explosion occurred along a busy street near a school in a section of town with a large population of ethnic Hazaras, a group tied to the Shiite branch of Islam.

"It was a sectarian attack," the officer said. "the [Shite]community was the target."

DAWN.com said the explosion brought scores of police and troops to the area, and Hazara leaders issued calls for a strike Sunday to protest the attack.

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