Bomb blast kills one man in SW Pakistan

QUETTA, Pakistan, Mar 23 (Reuters) A bomb blew up a telephone call office in Pakistan's troubled Baluchistan province today, killing the owner and wounding eight other people, police said.

A police official, who did not want to be identified, said tribal militants seeking greater provincial autonomy had planted a time-bomb in a shop housing the call office in Kohlu town in the southeast of the province.

The incident was the latest in a wave of rebel attacks in the southwestern province bordering Afghanistan and Iran. On Tuesday, a gas pipeline was blown up, while a landmine blast wounded four troops.

Baluch militants have waged a low-level insurgency for decades and have intensified attacks on government installations and infrastructure facilities, including pipelines and transport links, in recent months.

REUTERS DKS PM1858