QUETTA, Feb 7: The house of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti in Dera Bugti was badly damaged in a rocket and mortar attack on late Monday night and a part of the house caught fire.
Official sources said that Nawab Bugti’s house caught fire because of blasts in an arms and ammunition depot.
It is learnt that heavy weapons were used in fighting between security forces and Bugti tribesmen on Monday night and several rockets and mortar shells landed inside the house of Nawab Bugti.
“It was arms and ammunition dump inside the house that caught fire when a shell hit it during an exchange of fire,” Samad Lasi, district coordination officer of Dera Bugti, said.
He said that Nawab Bugti and members of his family had left the house several days ago, while armed men guarding it left it after it caught fire.
He said that security forces found three bodies about 50 yards away from the place. One of the dead was identified as Wadera Badal Bugti, a close aide to Nawab Bugti.
However, JWP secretary-general Agha Shahid Bugti rejected the official’s claim and said that five vehicles parked inside the boundary of the house and the guest-house were hit by rockets and mortar shells fired by security forces.
He also denied the claim about blasts in the ammunition dump in the house. “No arms and ammunition dump was inside the fort and it is a propaganda,” he said, adding that the vehicles, including the official vehicle of Dera Bugti District Nazim Kazim Bugti, and the guest-house were hit.
The JWP leader said that the house was badly damaged and a nearby mosque was also hit by rockets. Houses of Hindu community were also damaged, he added.
CAMPS: Official sources, meanwhile, said that paramilitary forces had destroyed three camps of outlaws in Sangsilla, Peshi and Lundi Nallah areas and seized a huge quantity of arms and ammunition. They said that 370 rockets, 200 mortar shells, 16 missiles, 230 RPG rounds, 7 rocket launchers, 7 machineguns, 13 Kalashnikov assault rifles, 47 shells of 82 MM and several thousands rounds of different calibres were seized.
The sources said that two persons, identified as Mureed Bugti and Karim Bugti, were also arrested in Dera Bugti on charges of planting landmines.
GAS PIPELINES: The 586-mw Uch power plant was again shut down on Tuesday morning when gas supply to the plant was suspended from Uch gas field after saboteurs blew up a pipeline.
“The gas pipeline was blown up in the same area of the Chatter tehsil where it was destroyed three times over the past month,” police sources said.
The pipeline caught fire after the explosion. However, the fire was brought under control by switching off gas supply from the field. “We have no other option but to shut down the plant after the suspension of gas supply,” sources in the plant said.
They said that three more gas pipelines in Loti area had also been blown up.
One of the pipelines damaged in an earlier explosion had been repaired only on Monday.
ATTACK ON SUI TOWN: On Tuesday night at least 40 missiles landed and exploded in and around the Sui town, the sources said, adding that no casualty was reported.
The attacks started at around 9pm and continued with brief intervals. The missiles were fired from Mohan Pat area, some 20 km from the Sui gas filed, the sources said.
Some rockets landed close to the Sui gas plant, but the gas installation remained safe. Security forces retaliated and returned the fire.
ARMY OPERATION: Security forces continued the operation in some areas of Kohlu district and at least seven people were injured in Tartani area during an exchange of fire. “Helicopter gunships were shelling Kahan and other areas,” residents of the area told this correspondent on phone. They said that heavy exchange of fire between security force and armed tribesmen were reported from Nal and Chepa-kach areas.
They alleged that people in Kahan were asked to leave their houses as forces were going to launch a big operation in the area.
CHEMICAL GAS CHARGE: The Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) has accused the paramilitary forces of firing chemical gas shells on civilian population in Dera Bugti. Several people, it said, fell unconscious, some others were overcome by nausea and one person suffered loss of memory.
Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, the party’s secretary-general, Agha Shahid Hasan Bugti, said that tribesmen would never surrender their weapons which they kept to protect themselves.
Referring to President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s offer for talks after the tribesmen disarmed themselves, he said that the Baloch people would rather die than surrender their arms.
He alleged that the security forces used five chemical gas shells on Sunday night.
He also alleged that fighter jets and helicopter gunships fired missiles on civilian population in Kordan area.
The JWP leader said that almost the entire population of the Dera Bugti town had moved to other areas and at present only the paramilitary forces were in that area.
He contradicted Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani’s claim that 800 rockets had been fired on Sui. He said that the rocket attacks were the result of an infighting between Bandulani and other sub-clans of Kalpar in Sui.
About his meeting with foreign diplomats in Islamabad and Karachi, he said that the Canadian diplomat had invited him to Islamabad and in Karachi he had met United States consul-general and apprised them about the human rights abuses in Balochistan.
QUETTA, Feb 7: The house of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti in Dera Bugti was badly damaged in a rocket and mortar attack on late Monday night and a part of the house caught fire.
