21 April 2005	Thursday	11 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1426

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QUETTA, April 20: Suspected tribal rebels in Barkhan district blew up four electricity pylons in the early hours of Wednesday as a result of which power supply to Kohlu district was cut off. Some people had planted explosives on the pylons in the Hun Naddi area of Barkhan district which blew them up.

Qesco authorities claimed that repair work was in progress necessitating suspension of power supply. They stated that staff had been sent to the place for repair work and the power supply to the affected areas would soon be restored.

Supply to several areas of Kalat, 120km (75 miles) south of here, was cut off after the pylon blast, said Gibreel Khan, a spokesman for the state-run power company.

On Tuesday, five blasts caused by crude home-made devices rocked Quetta and Kalat but did not cause any major damage or casualties, police said.

Balochistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, is the largest of Pakistan’s four provinces, but also the poorest and most sparsely populated.

Since the begining of the year, it has been wrecked by violence blamed on insurgent tribesmen demanding more royalties from the region’s rich natural resources and a rollback of military forces in the region.

“Three explosions occurred in Kalat, one outside the old court building, another outside administrator officials office and the third went off near a boys’ school,” Kalat police official Saleem Lehri said.