A bomb blast in Pakistan has killed at least 47 people and injured 200 others, according to local police. The bomb was attached to a motorcycle outside a vegetable market in Quetta, and targeted the area's Shia community.

"The Shia community was the target," police officer Wazir Khan Nasir told AFP. He added that the device was detonated by remote control. 

Another official told the AP around 60 people died in the explosion, while 180 sustained injuries.

Women and children were among the victims. Hospital sources told Al Jazeera that many of the wounded are in critical condition and the death toll is likely to rise.

Sporadic gunfire can be heard from the area, prompting many to fear follow-up attacks.

"Rescuers and volunteers are hesitant to go near the blast site for fear of another explosion,” Shia activist Haider Changezi told Al Jazeera. 

Quetta is the provincial capital of Balochistan province, where the country's Shia minority has come under frequent attack from Sunni militant groups this year.

The blast comes just one month after twin blasts killed at least 90 people in the same region. The banned Sunni militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed responsibility for the attacks. 

Last year was the deadliest so far for Pakistan's Shia community, with more than 400 people killed in targeted killings. Shia Muslims account for around 20 per cent of the country's population. 

Relatives gather around the dead body of a child who was killed in bomb blast at a hospital in Quetta on February 16, 2013. (AFP Photo/Banaras Khan)

A Pakistani Shiite Muslim mourns the death of a relative killed in a bomb explosion in Quetta on February 16, 2013. (AFP Photo/Banaras Khan)

Relatives and medical staff shift an injured bomb blast victim into the hospital in Quetta on February 16, 2013 (AFP Photo/Banaras Khan)

Pakistani paramedics work over the dead bodies of bomb blast victims at a hospital in Quetta on February 16, 2013. (AFP Photo/Banaras Khan)

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