A technician at Pakistan's main nuclear research facility has been killed in an explosion, report agencies.

The blast at the Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) facility at Kahuta, near Islamabad, occurred when the technician was handling conventional explosives and there had been no damage to the nuclear facilities, said Army spokesman Shaukat Sultan.

KRL was founded by Abdul Qadir Khan -- known as the father Pakistan's nuclear weapons program -- who was pardoned and dismissed after admitting that he had leaked nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya, and North Korea.

"It was a normal conventional explosive that he [the technician] was handling when the accident happened and he died," the spokesman said. "The incident is under investigation."

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