A car bomb blast in south-west Pakistan has killed three Chinese engineers and injured at least nine other people, say police and officials. The blast occurred as they were being taken to work on a project to develop port facilities in the city of Gawadar, near the border with Iran.

Local police chief Sattar Lasi said it was not clear if it had been a suicide attack or detonated by remote control. A Chinese Embassy duty officer said the situation was being monitored closely.

Those injured in the blast at about 0400 GMT yesterday included Chinese workers and Pakistani nationals. ?A car was parked near the port and it exploded as the bus reached the port,? Sattar Lasi, Gawadar?s police chief, told. He said it was not clear who was behind the attack.

?We are investigating but there is a possibility it was a remote-control bomb,? he is quoted as saying. Foreigners have been targeted by Islamic militant groups in southern Pakistan in the past. In the most deadly attack, 11 French naval engineers were killed outside Karachi?s Sheraton hotel in May 2002.

They were working helping Pakistan?s navy develop a new submarine. A month later, a suicide bomb attack outside the US consulate in Karachi left 14 people, all Pakistanis, dead.