Baloch rebels attack gas town in Pakistan again:

New Kerala ^ | 1/10/05

[Straight Vermonter]

[World News]: Islamabad, Jan 10 : Heavy gun battle erupted for the third straight day between government forces and armed rebels in a Balochistan township close to a gas field, leaving a woman dead and over a dozen injured and disrupting power supply.

Dawn newspaper said Monday the fight was continuing past Sunday midnight, with both sides using heavy-calibre weapons.

"We cannot come out because of heavy shelling and rocket attacks," a local administration official in Sui township told the paper over the phone.

At least three people have been killed and nearly 20 wounded since the attack started Friday night and continued intermittently. A separatist group, Baloch Liberation Front (BLF), had claimed responsibility for Friday's attack but there had been no statement by the group since then.

Gas supply to a local power plant could not be restored Sunday as planned as the pipelines blown up in the attacks were yet to be repaired. Engineers of Pakistan Petroleum company, who were engaged in the repair work, said they hoped to restore supply by Monday evening.

Sui township and adjoining areas have been without electricity since Friday as electric poles and cables have been damaged.

"More than 200 rockets and mortar shells were fired during four-hour-long gun battle in Sui (Sunday)" a senior officer of the Sui administration said.

"Over a dozen houses were damaged and a large number of cattle and other animals were killed in the attack," the officials said.

He said a mortar shell hit the house of Nawab Bugti, damaging the boundary wall and kitchen as rocket and mortar shells rained in at least seven localities. . A petrol pump was also damaged in the crossfire, the sources said, adding that a large number of vehicles were also damaged.

[Straight Vermonter]

Here is yesterday's story about the initial attack on the pipeline.

I have to wonder if this is related to OBL's call to attack the petrochemical industry.

[RicocheT]

"Heavy shelling and rocket attacks" is how they vote or celebrate weddings in that part of the world. When they get angry, they kill you and the rest of your tribe. Then, they go to mosque to beg forgiveness (but only if you too were a Muslim.)

[Saberwielder]

The Baloch rebels are an amalgam of leftists who had been thriving inside Communist ruled Afghanistan in the 1980s and loyalists of the tribal chiefs or "sardars."

They are historically rivals of the Islamists. In the 1970s, the Pakistan government had crushed a rebellion there by killing a few thousand using indiscrimiate bombing of villages to "teach them a lesson." They are mad because the Pakistan army is developing the strategic Gwadar port in Baluchistan with Chinese help and they feel that it would bring in an influx of outsiders who'd make Baluchis minorities in their own land. The locals have also been angry that the other provinces have made use of the natural gas and minerals from Baluchistan but haven't seen any benefits trickle down to them. This is more of an ethnic rivalry than Islamic thing.

[Nuzcruizer]

OH NO! Not the sacred cow!!

This is just another day for the religion of peace. Normal friendly behavior. This is how they settle things in Islam.

We really don't need to fight a war on terrorism, just cut off all the foriegn aid,including food, and watch them kill each other off. All we have to do is keep them within their borders.

[Prost1]

Here is a link for their version of activities...

http://bb.1asphost.com/albaloch/

Note: this is a Baloch separatist site, so it views local attacks on industrial sites as rebellion, even though the loss of income further drives the territory into poverty. Muslim logic!