A suicide bomber blew himself up in a mosque killing at least 10 Shiite Muslims and wounding 12 others in a remote southwestern Pakistani town on Thursday, officials said.

A suicide bomber blew himself up in a mosque killing at least 10 Shiite Muslims and wounding 12 others in a remote southwestern Pakistani town on Thursday, officials said.

The attack took place as Shiites gathered at the mosque to observe the holy month of Muharram in the town of Chalgari in restive Baluchistan, some 170 kilometers southeast of the provincial capital, Quetta.

"At least 10 people were killed and 12 others were wounded after a suicide bomber blew himself up at a Shiite mosque," provincial home minister Sarfraz Bugti told AFP.

Local administration official Mohammad Waseem confirmed the attack and death toll.

Bugti said there were six children between 10 and 12 years old among the dead and that some women had also died.

He added that the death toll may rise.

Waseem said the suspected suicide bomber appeared to be about 18 years old and was wearing a woman's burqa, a face veil.

Takfiri violence has claimed thousands of lives of Shiite minority in the country over the past decade.

Many of the worst atrocities have taken place in the southwestern province of Baluchistan, home to some 200,000 Shiites.

Shiite gatherings and processions during Muharram mark Imam Hussein's (a.s.) martyrdom in the Battle of Karbala, Iraq, in 680 AD.