Market bomb blast in Balochistan

A bomb blast in the Pakistan province of Balochistan has killed three people and wounded 15 others, police say.

Provincial Home Secretary Abdul Rauf told Reuters news agency that the bomb went off in the main bazaar in the town of Qalat, about 90km south of Quetta.

He said the authorities were investigating the cause of the blast. No group has claimed the attack.

Correspondents say disgruntled tribesmen have carried out a spate of recent bombings in the area.

Protests

The bomb exploded near a sweet shop in the main bazaar in Qalat killing the shopkeeper, his assistant and a worker.

Three of the injured people have been moved to Quetta and their condition is said to be serious.

Shops in the vicinity have been shut down and residents are protesting against the government, demanding that they bring the guilty to justice.

Officials say violence in Balochistan is not connected with a military campaign against al-Qaeda linked militants in the semi-autonomous South Waziristan tribal region of Pakistan further north.

State-owned oil and gas installations have been targeted in Balochistan - one of Pakistan's poorest provinces - by suspected tribesmen who say that local people should receive more of the wealth generated.