Tribal rebels bomb gas pipeline amid protests in Pakistan

QUETTA, Pakistan (AFP) – Tribal insurgents bombed a gas pipeline in southwestern Pakistan as tension continued over the killing of a rebel chieftain in a military operation, police said.

“Miscreants detonated a bomb that blew up a pipeline and disrupted gas supplies to thousands of homes in Mastung and Qalat districts,” local police officer Hamid Shakil said on Sunday.

The blast took place 35 kilometers (21 miles) south of the provincial capital Quetta, amid calls by opposition parties to stage demonstrations across Baluchistan over the August 26 killing of veteran Baluch leader Nawab Akbar Bugti.

Bugti, who died in a cave-hideout during an army operation, was buried in haste on Friday, hours after his decomposed body was retrieved from the collapsed cave.

AFP