Quetta, May 3 (Reuters): A powerful car bomb exploded at one of Pakistan’s biggest construction projects today, killing three Chinese technicians and wounding 11 people in what President Pervez Musharraf called a “barbaric act of terrorism”.

A parked car exploded as a vehicle carrying 12 Chinese drove by in the southern city of Gawadar in Baluchistan province where Pakistan is building its third port. Police in Gawadar, 480 km west of Karachi and near the Iranian border, said the Chinese were en route to the port, which they are helping to develop when the car blew up.

Three Chinese men were killed and nine were wounded, four seriously. Two Pakistanis, the driver of the vehicle and a security guard, were also hurt.

Musharraf wrote to his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, vowing the “severest punishment” for those responsible:

Communications minister Babar Khan Ghauri said work on the Chinese-funded project would continue unhindered, despite the attack. China has more than 300 nationals working there.

The attack, the latest in a wave of violence linked to hardline Islamic militant groups opposed to Pakistani support for the US-led “war on terror”, appeared to be aimed at Pakistan’s economic interests, he said in Islamabad. “The way an attempt has been made to sabotage the Gawadar project shows how important this project is for the country.”

Fuses and pieces of a cylinder were found at the site of the blast amid indications that the bomb was set off by remote control, he said.