Peshawar, Pakistan, May 06: A small bomb exploded outside a Christian hospital in the northwestern Pakistani town of Tank overnight but caused no casualties, police said. The home-made device, planted alongside the hospital's outer wall, went off around 9:45 pm (2215 IST) yesterday, a police officer said. The blast caused minor damage to the wall but no casualties, he said.

The 200-bed Christian missionary hospital has been operating in tank, some 400 kms south of here, since 1945.

Local police officer Mohammad Khan told a news agency by telephone that such devices were made in the tribal area.

An investigation was underway to track down the perpetrators, he said.

Pakistan's Christian community has suffered a string of attacks by suspected Islamic militants wreaking revenge for the United States-led ouster of neighbouring Afghanistan's Taliban regime in late 2001.

Deadly strikes on Christian institutions, including four churches, a school for foreign missionaries' children and a welfare centre, have claimed the lives of 41 people, including two Americans and Muslims guarding the centres.

Bureau Report