E-Paper
Gas pipeline blown up in Pak
A bomb exploded at a gas field at the Pir Koh gas field in southwestern Balochistan province, rupturing a gas pipeline and cutting supply to several cities.
A bomb exploded on Thursday at a gas field in southwest Pakistan, rupturing a gas pipeline and cutting supply to several cities, an official said.
No one was injured by the blast that occurred before dawn at the Pir Koh gas field in southwestern Balochistan province, said Abdul Samad Lasi, a top government administrator in the area.
The explosion ruptured a 16-inch-diameter pipe connecting a well to a compressor plant and disrupted supply to several cities in eastern Pakistan, leaving thousands of homes and factories without gas, Lasi said.
The cities included Multan, Bahawalpur and Faisalabad in the eastern Punjab province.
No one claimed responsibility. Authorities suspect local tribesmen who attack gas fields and security forces in a campaign for increased royalty payments for resources extracted from their territories.
Lasi could not say when the pipeline would be repaired and supply restored.
Authorities will first have to clear land mines near the pipe before workers can go to the site to begin repair work, he said.
Lasi blamed tribesmen for planting the land mines to stop security forces from patrolling in the area.
