The bomb exploded as mourners, mostly lawyers and journalists, gathered to accompany the body of Bilal Anwar Kasi, a prominent lawyer, who was shot and killed in the frontier city earlier on Monday, an eyewitness said.

More than 50 mourners were entering the emergency department of the hospital to accompany Kasi's body when the bomb went off, Faridullah, a journalist who was at the scene, told Reuters.

Kasi was shot and killed while on his way to the main court complex in Quetta, senior police official Nadeem Shah told Reuters.

Targeted killings have become increasingly common in Quetta, the capital of a province that has seen rising violence linked to a Pakistan separatist insurgency as well as Pakistan sectarian tensions and rising crime.

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