A car bomb killed at least six people on Tuesday in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi in a attack most likely aimed at a KFC restaurant, police and ambulance crew said.

A government spokesman said at least four people died and several were injured, some seriously, but he said information was still coming in from the scene.

An ambulance crew member for the Edhi Foundation, Pakistan's largest charity, told Reuters six bodies were taken to hospital.

The car bomb exploded outside the KFC outlet in downtown Karachi around 9 a.m. local time (0400 GMT), gutting the restaurant and shattering the windows of a nearby six-storey office block housing several oil and gas exploration firms.

Manzoor Mughal, chief of investigation for Karachi police, told Reuters. "Our initial findings were that an explosive was placed inside a car."

Police said the bomb caused casualties in and outside the office block. It was not clear if KFC was open at the time of the blast.

Some banks on the ground floor of the office building also felt the force of the blast, which blew other cars on the road to pieces. Tenants of the building include Pakistan Petroleum Ltd (PPL) PPL.KA.
Another KFC restaurant and a McDonald's outlet came under attack in September in Karachi. Two bombs exploded within minutes of each other at the two fast-food franchises, injuring at least two people, police said.

PHOTO CAPTION

Pakistan police and paramilitary officers remove a dead body as smoke raises from burning vehicles after a bomb blast out side the U.S. food franchise Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in Karachi, Pakistan on Tuesday, November 15, 2005. (AP)