A leading human rights group says Pakistan's Shi'ite Muslims are living in a state of siege, after a string of bombings across the country killed 115 people and wounded nearly 250, in one of the nation's deadliest days in years.
Ali Dayan Hasan, the Pakistan director of Human Rights Watch, warned Friday that sectarian violence will likely rise, a day after 82 people were killed in Quetta in suicide bomb blasts in a billiards hall frequented by Shi'ites.
He said more than 400 Shi'ites were killed last year and "if yesterday's attack is any indication, it's just going to get worse."
The outlawed militant Sunni group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi contacted local media to claim responsibility.
Shi'ites make up about 20 percent of Pakistan's mostly Sunni Muslim population of 160 million people.