Authorities in Pakistan are investigating whether malnutrition is responsible for the deaths of nearly two dozen children in the country's drought-hit desert south.

Kamran Zia, chief spokesman for the National Disaster Management Authority, said yesterday as many as 23 children have died in the villages of Tharparkar desert, about 650 miles south of the capital, Islamabad, since February.

Officials also said investigators were trying to determine who was responsible for delays in sending food and medicine to the area.