Bicycle bomb wounds 11 in southwest Pakistan

QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) – A bomb planted on a bicycle wounded 11 people, including five paramilitary soldiers, in a southwest Pakistani town where separatist rebels have long been active.

The bomb was detonated as a truck carrying paramilitary troops passed through a market area of Mastung, a town about 50 km (30 miles) southeast of Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province.

“The device was planted on a bicycle and probably soldiers were the target,” a top police officer in the town, Malik Arshad, said by telephone.

He said five of the wounded were in a critical condition.

No group has claimed responsibility.

Separatist rebels, fighting for greater autonomy and control over Baluchistan’s mineral resources, have waged a low-level insurgency for decades, attacking gas pipelines, infrastructure links and the security forces.