Around three hours later, deadly twin blasts hit Quetta again within a space of few minutes.
The first one -- a suicide blast -- hit a snooker club on Alamdar Road around 8.50 p.m..
Bomb disposal squad officers said an estimated six to seven kg of explosives were used by the suicide bomber.
As police, rescuers and mediapersons rushed to the site, another bomb fixed to a vehicle parked nearby went off.
Police official Mir Zubair told Xinhua that 81 people were killed and 121 wounded in the twin bombings.
Among those killed in the twin blasts, there were nine policemen, 25 rescue workers and two mediapersons.
An estimated 100 kg of explosives were used in the second blast.
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, an extremist Sunni Muslim group banned by the government, has claimed responsibility for the twin blasts.
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf strongly condemned the attack and directed the authorities to provide the best possible medical treatment to the victims.
The provincial government of Balochistan has announced a three-day mourning for the victims and a compensation of Rs.2 million ($20,300) each for the killed policemen and Rs.1 million ($10,150) each for the other people who lost their lives.