A suicide bomber was killed early Sunday in southwestern Pakistan when the explosives belt he was wearing exploded prematurely, police said. No one else was injured in the blast in Hub, an industrial town in Baluchistan province, local police official Munir Hussain said."This man was riding a cycle. He had strapped explosives to his body for a suicide attack and they exploded," Hussain said of the blast in Hub's Zehri Street neighborhood. The man's intended target was not immediately known, and police were investigating, Hussain said.
Hub is about 580 kilometers (360 miles) southeast of Quetta, Baluchistan's capital. Baluchistan has been the scene of attacks targeting security forces, gas pipelines and gas fields. Authorities accuse ethnic Baluch tribesmen of engaging in violence to press demands for increased royalties for resources — mainly natural gas — extracted from their territories. However, tribesmen haven't been known to launch suicide attacks.
Police found the severed head of the man, Pakistan's Geo television station reported. "From his face and dress, he appears to be a Baluch," police officer Mohammed Rafiq told Geo.