3 killed in blasts after Bugti's funeral

Quetta (Pakistan): Gunfire and rioting broke out for a fourth straight day on Tuesday after the funeral Nawab Akbar Bugti who was killed by Pakistani forces.

Three factory workers were killed in a restaurant bombing amid widespread violence in southern Pakistan.

More than 10,000 mourners attended the funeral in the Baluchistan capital, Quetta, for fugitive tribal leader Nawab Akbar Bugti, who was killed on Saturday.

His death has sparked days of violent protests that have left at least two people dead and dozens wounded.

Bugti, a former provincial governor and tribal chieftain, led an often violent political campaign to try win greater control by Baluch tribes people of natural resources extracted in the region. He died after troops attacked his cave in Kohlu, about 140 miles east of Quetta.

A bomb exploded in a crowded roadside restaurant in the Baluchistan town of Hub, killing three civilians and wounding eight, said police official Mir Hidiyatullah Ronjha. The motive for the attack was not immediately clear.

Quetta's police chief said protesters threw two grenades at police deployed to the packed Quetta stadium where the prayer service was held for 79-year-old Bugti, whose body has not yet been returned to his family. Chaudhry Mohammed Yaqoob said nobody was hurt.

Gunfire broke out shortly after the blasts, wounding two of the scores of police that had deployed to the service to try prevent a repeat of the daily rioting and vandalism that has followed Bugti's death. More than 20 nearby businesses were set on fire by protesters.

Hundreds of club-wielding protesters also burned shops, banks and cars in the Baluchistan towns of Khuzdar, Turbat and Gawadar, on the Arabian Sea coast.

Police arrested 30 rioters throughout Quetta, driving the number of people detained since the violence began on Saturday to at least 530.

Another 35 protesters were detained in the southern port city of Karachi where gunshots fired at one riot wounded two teenage boys, police said. Their conditions were not immediate available.

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Political and religious leaders led thousands into the Quetta stadium for Tuesday's ceremony. An Associated Press reporter at the scene estimated the number of mourners at more than 10,000.

Political supporters of Bugti put the figure at more than double.

The protesters chanted ''Death to Pakistan's army!'' and ''Pakistan will disintegrate, Pakistan will no longer exist!'' during the service, as a Pakistani military helicopter hovered overhead.

Afterward, groups of young men smashed windows throughout the stadium and burned a security guard post. Smoke billowed from surrounding streets as protesters, many with faces covered by scarves, set car tires alight and looted shops.

Police fired gunshots into the air in an attempt to disperse the crowd.

Bellowing through a loudspeaker, Bugti's son-in-law and Pakistani senator, Agha Shahid Bugti, appealed for calm, yelling: ''Anyone who is looting and damaging other's property has nothing to do with us. We are peaceful. They are our enemies.''

In a further bid to ease tensions, Baluchistan's government banned the carrying of ''fire arms and lethal weapons'' for two months across the province, where guns are freely available.

The late leader's son, Talal, said he doubted government claims that his father's body was still trapped under rubble.

Baluchistan, bordering Afghanistan and Iran, has seen decades of conflict as tribes people led by Bugti pressed for a bigger share of wealth from the province's gas, oil and other resources.

Bugti's tribal militia has mounted guerrilla-style resistance as the armed forces have moved to establish garrisons and assert government control over the lawless region.