Rockets fired at Pakistan quake relief helicopter

Militants fired rockets at a helicoper carrying the chief of Pakistan's disaster relief agency in the country's quake-hit southwest today, but no damage was done said mililtary officials.

Militants fired rockets at a helicoper carrying the chief of Pakistan's disaster relief agency in the country's quake-hit southwest on Thursday, military officials said, but no damage was done.

The helicopter with Major General Muhammad Saeed Aleem, chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority, on board was flying over Awaran district in Balochistan province, the area worst hit by Tuesday's 7.7-magnitude quake.

"Two rockets were fired on the helicopter and the target was missed," a military official in the provincial capital Quetta told AFP.

"The area is rife with insurgency and has presence of Balochistan Liberation Front insurgents."

Another military official confirmed the attack and said everyone in the helicopter was safe.

Balochistan, Pakistan's largest but least developed province, has been struggling with a violent separatist insurgency since 2004.

The 7.7-magnitude quake which hit on Tuesday has killed nearly 350 people and made more than 100,000 homeless.