At least five people were killed and over one dozen of others injured on Friday when a bomb exploded near a hospital in southwestern Pakistan's Baluchistan province, local media reports said.

A bomb planted in a dustbin near a civil hospital in Rakhni, some 300 km east of Quetta, the provincial capital, exploded, the private GEO Television and the News website reported, quoting police.

Among those injured, several were in critical conditions and they were taken to hospital for treatment, reports said.

Police said the bomb was so powerful that the legs and hands of several injured were broken.

The blast came as violence gripped Baluchistan following the death of the anti-government Bugti tribal leader Nawab Akbar Bugti in a military operation on Aug. 26.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Baluchistan has been hit by shootings, small-scale bombings and rocket attacks in recent years, most of which have been blamed on tribesmen demanding more royalties for gas extracted from the province.

Source: Xinhua