Bomb kills four in Pakistan: police

Posted 07 4 2009 2:43AM

QUETTA, Pakistan (AFP) – A bomb killed at least four people and wounded five others Tuesday near a hotel in Pakistan's restive province of Baluchistan bordering Afghanistan and Iran, police said.

The blast occurred in Kalat district on the main highway linking the provincial capital Quetta to Pakistan's financial hub Karachi.

"Four people were killed and five others were injured," Kalat police chief Nazir Kurd told AFP.

According to initial reports and witnesses, the bomb exploded near a hotel along the highway when a white Suzuki car pulled up, Nazir said.

"It is not clear whether the bomb was planted in the car or on the roadside," he said. Police suspect the target was trucks carrying supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan.

"Some trucks carrying NATO supplies were also stopping over at the hotel for tea or lunch and we suspect that the bomb was targeted at them. However, no damage was caused to any truck," the police official said.

Among the dead were the hotel owner and the driver of a small truck, he said.

No group claimed immediate responsibility for the incident, but southwestern Baluchistan is rife with Islamist militancy, sectarian violence and regional insurgency.

Hundreds of people have died since Baluch rebels rose up in 2004 demanding political autonomy and a greater share of profits from the region's wealth of natural resources.

Pakistan has been hit recently by multiple bomb blasts that authorities have blamed on Islamist militants trying to exact revenge for a deadly military offensive against the Taliban in the northwest.

NATO and US-led forces in landlocked Afghanistan are hugely dependent on Pakistan for supplies and equipment, about 80 percent of which is transported through this troubled country.