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Blast near official's house in Quetta

A bomb exploded near the home of an official supervising operations against tribal militants in southwestern Pakistan.

Updated on: Feb 07, 2006 10:59 AM IST
None | By , Quetta
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A bomb exploded on Friday near the home of a government official supervising operations against tribal militants in southwestern Pakistan, officials said.

HT Image
HT Image

The blast damaged a wall and his kitchen but caused no injuries.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the pre-dawn attack apparently targetting Abdul Samad Lasi's house in Hab, a town 700 kilometers southeast of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province.

The region's police chief, Pervez Zahoor, said authorities were investigating.

Lasi blamed a renegade tribal elder for the attack.

"The men of Nawab Akbar Bugti are responsible for it," he said.

"The bomb destroyed a wall and the kitchen of my house, but none of my family members was hurt," he added.

Authorities have long accused Bugti, a tribal elder, of orchestrating attacks against gas fields, security forces and officials.

Bugti and his supporters have been demanding increased royalties for resources extracted from their lands.

They are also opposed to the setting up of new military garrisons in their areas.

The latest unrest in sparsely populated Balochistan's tribal areas has raised fears of a repeat of an uprising that rocked the province in the 1970s, when thousands died in a large-scale military operation against rebellious tribesmen.

 
Follow India news real-time updates and the latest news covered on Hindustan Times, featuring today's critical updates on Sonam Wangchuk LIVE and more across India.
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