QUETTA Two people were killed and a dozen wounded, including several wedding party guests, when a bomb exploded in a rickshaw in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province, police said.

“It was an improvised explosive device which went off in a rickshaw,”senior police officer Shabbir Sheikh told AFP, adding that the rickshaw heading to the airport in Quetta.

Another police officer, Mohammad Riaz, said two people -- the rickshaw driver and a passenger -- were killed while about a dozen people travelling in a passenger van were wounded.

The injured included women and children who were going to a wedding party, Riaz said.

“It is possible the passenger in the rickshaw, who died in the blast, was carrying the bomb which exploded prematurely,” he added

Mohammad Noor, a medical officer at Quetta's Civil Hospital, confirmed the casualties.

“We have received two dead bodies. There are about a dozen wounded, including six women and two children,” he said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but similar bombings have been blamed on separatist, secular tribal rebels in Balochistan.

Hundreds of people have died in violence in the province since the insurgency flared in late 2004, with rebels demanding political autonomy and a greater share of profits from the region's natural resources.

Balochistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, has also been hit by attacks blamed on Taliban militants and sectarian extremists. -AFP