Ten people have been killed and at least a dozen others wounded in a car bomb attack in the city of Quetta in southwest Pakistan, police have said.

The explosion occurred outside a mosque on Wednesday as hundreds of people were leaving after morning prayers, Abdul Jamil, a police officer told the AP news agency.

Jamil said the attack damaged 10 vehicles and several nearby buildings.

Worshippers were coming out of their congressional prayers marking Eid al-Fitr, the Islamic holiday that comes at the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said.

According to the Quetta police chief, a car packed with explosives had entered a parking lot, attempting to head for the mosque, Hyder said.