Artificial rain eases Pakistan drought

The Pakistani authorities have conducted an experiment to induce rainfall in Quetta, the drought-stricken capital of the south-western province of Balochistan.

They said the experiment led to a twenty minute downpour.

Meteorological Department officials said the rain was the result of cloud seeding.

The experiment was the latest in a series sanctioned by the military government in the face of severe drought in southern regions.

So far twenty-four experiments have been carried out, sixteen of them successfully.

The drought in Balochistan has affected more than one-and-a-half million people and has killed some two million animals.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service