Pakistan gas pipeline attacked

ISN SECURITY WATCH (Tuesday, 7 February: 12.45 CET) – A bomb exploded near a pipeline supplying gas to a power plant in the southwestern Pakistani province of Balochistan has exploded, disrupting supplies but causing no injuries, news agencies reported.

o one claimed responsibility for the late Monday explosion.

In the past, tribal militants have been blamed for such acts of sabotage, and, particularly, for an earlier explosion on the Uch Power Plant.

Baloch tribal militants are demanding more autonomy for the province and greater control over the region’s gas wealth.

The late Monday attack on the US- and British-owned Uch Power Plant is the fourth such attack in a month.

One British and two US companies are the plant’s main shareholders. The plant sells electricity to Pakistan’s state-run Water and Power Development Authority.

On Saturday, at least eight people were killed when tribal militants fired more than 100 rockets into a town near Pakistan’s largest gas field in Balochistan.

Militants also blew up a section of gas pipeline and a water pipeline in a gas field in the same area on Sunday.

Local police have blamed the attacks on tribal militants.

The army launched a major crackdown in the area last month after rockets were fired during a visit by Pakistan’s military president Pervez Musharraf.

On Monday, the Pakistani authorities indicted local tribal leader Nawab Akbar Bugti and 27 others for militants attacks.