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Pakistani minority Shias end days-long protest in Quetta

In this Feb. 21, 2013, photo, Pakistani Shia Muslim children hold candles and banners next to photographs of people, who were killed by a bomb blast in market on Saturday, February 16, 2013, in Quetta, Pakistan. Terrorized by ferocious attacks that have killed nearly 400 ethnic Hazaras in the past 18 months, with almost half of those deaths occurring in the first two months of this year, Shia leaders blamed the inaction of Pakistan’s security service for the rising violence against them in Quetta, the capital of southwestern Baluchistan province.

In this Feb. 21, 2013, photo, Pakistani Shia Muslim children hold candles and banners next to photographs of people, who were killed by a bomb blast in market on Saturday, February 16, 2013, in Quetta, Pakistan. Terrorized by ferocious attacks that have killed nearly 400 ethnic Hazaras in the past 18 months, with almost half of those deaths occurring in the first two months of this year, Shia leaders blamed the inaction of Pakistan’s security service for the rising violence against them in Quetta, the capital of southwestern Baluchistan province.   | Photo Credit: AP

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Islamic State

The bombing was claimed by Islamic State group, which views Shias as apostates deserving of death.

Pakistan’s minority Shia Muslims have ended their days-long sit-in after successful talks with the government, which promised more steps to protect them in the southwestern city of Quetta following a suicide bombing there last week.

Members of the Hazara community ended their protest before dawn Tuesday.

The bombing was claimed by Islamic State group, which views Shias as apostates deserving of death.

Quetta is the capital of Baluchistan province, which also is the scene of a low-level insurgency by separatists demanding more autonomy and a greater share in the region’s natural resources such as gas and oil.

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