Pakistan: Gas supply to Balochistan suspended after assailants blow up pipeline
Quetta, March 31 (IANS/WISHAVWARTA) Gas supply to Quetta and several districts of Pakistan’s Balochistan province has been disrupted after unidentified assailants blew up the main gas pipeline at Western Bypass area, local media reported on Tuesday.
Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) spokesperson said, “An 18-inch diameter main gas pipeline was blown up by unknown people,” adding that the incident occurred in Akhtarabad area, Pakistan’s leading daily Dawn reported.
Police said that the armed men planted an explosive device under the gas pipeline and blew it up on Monday evening. A senior police officer said that gas supply to several parts of Quetta and Balochistan was suspended after the pipeline caught fire.
SSGC spokesman said that the gas supply was impacted in Hazara town, Pishin, Ziarat, Kalat, Mastung, Hazarganji, Khaizi, Nohsar and Kuchlak.
SSGC officials said, “A big portion of the gas pipeline was destroyed by the blast,” adding that officials had reached the area and the repair work of pipeline would start after security clearance, Dawn reported.
Following the incident, heavy contingent of security personnel had been deployed at gas facilities in Quetta, Dawn reported.
Last week, the Balochistan Liberation Front claimed responsibility for a series of coordinated attacks targeting telecommunications infrastructure and a Frontier Corps (FC) post across Balochistan, reportedly causing casualties among security personnel and significant material damage, according to local media reports.
In a statement to the media, BLF spokesperson Major Gwahram Baloch said the group’s fighters carried out an operation on March 26 in the Bhawani area of Hub Chowki, where they set fire to and destroyed machinery at a mobile tower site, alleging it was being used for surveillance.
According to the spokesperson, in a separate incident on March 22, BLF fighters launched rocket fire at an FC post in the Charfanok area of Shehrak in the Kech district, causing casualties and losses to infrastructure, The Balochistan Post reported.
He further said that in the same incident, machinery at a nearby Ufone telecommunications tower was also set on fire, leaving it inoperable.
Earlier on March 26, a blast targeting Pakistani forces in the Zarkho area of Daghari in the provincial capital, Quetta, resulted in casualties, The Balochistan Post reported, citing sources.
The explosion took place when army personnel on foot reached the site of an under-construction post.
Reports suggest that the number of casualties could not be independently verified.
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