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Global

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 paramilitarytroops passed through a market area of Mastung, a town about 50km (30 miles) southeast of Quetta, the capital of Baluchistanprovince.

    "The device was planted on a bicycle and probably soldierswere the target," a top police officer in the town, MalikArshad, 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 andcontrol over Baluchistan's mineral resources, have waged alow-level insurgency for decades, attacking gas pipelines,infrastructure links and the security forces.

    (Reporting by Gul Yousafzai; Writing by Kamran Haider;Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)