Police in Pakistan say an apparent suicide bomb blast has killed at least 65 people and wounded nearly 200 in the southwestern city Quetta. Most of the victims are minority Shi'ite Muslims.

The bomb exploded Saturday evening in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province. Doctors say some of the wounded are in critical condition.

The city police chief, Mir Zubair Mehmood, tells VOA the powerful bomb ripped through a crowded vegetable and fruit market in a part of Quetta dominated by Shi'ite Muslims, locally known as the Hazara community.

“It was a water bowser [mobile water tank], which was towed behind a tractor, and that water bowser was loaded with the explosive material," Mehmood explained. "We estimate around 800 kilograms of explosive material was loaded in there. We can’t say definitely, but it appears it was a suicide attack and at that point in time there were a lot of people shopping.”

A banned Sunni militant organization, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, has claimed responsibility for Saturday’s bombing.