Rebels blow up third Pakistani pipeline in a week

QUETTA, Pakistan (AFP) – Tribal insurgents blew up another gas pipeline in southwestern Pakistan’s Baluchistan province, the third such attack in less than a week, officials said.

Military officials meanwhile dismissed a claim that five soldiers had been captured by the rebels, who are fighting for greater autonomy and a share of profits from the desert province’s natural resources.

The pipeline bringing gas from a well to a purification plant happened at Sui, a gas field close to the former stronghold of fugitive rebel chieftain Nawab Akbar Bugti.

The blast has “partially affected” supplies to the main gas plant, local administration official Abdul Samad Lasi told AFP on Wednesday.

AFP