Balochistan Province's Home Minister Ziaullah Langove said 19 people were also wounded in the January 10 explosion, which took place during evening prayers at a mosque in a satellite town of Quetta, the provincial capital.

Some of the injured were said to be in a critical condition.

Langove said a suicide bomber detonated explosives attached to his body among the worshipers.

The Islamic State (IS) extremist group claimed responsibility for the bombing, saying it was a suicide attack.

A deputy superintendent of police was among those killed.

A cleric leading the prayers, as well as associates and relatives of a prominent Taliban leader also died in the explosion, reports said.

The mosque was said to be part of an Islamic seminary run by the Afghan Taliban.

Resource-rich Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran, has been plagued by sectarian violence, Islamist militant attacks, and a separatist insurgency that has led to thousands of casualties since 2004.

On January 7 in Quetta, a bomb blast hit a paramilitary force vehicle, killing two troops.

Hizbul Ahrar, an offshoot of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for Tuesday's attack.

That attack was claimed by Jamaat ul-Ahrar (JuA), a breakaway faction of the Pakistani Taliban.

With reporting by dpa