QUETTA, March 16: Power supply to Quetta and several other parts of Balochistan was disrupted after three pylons of the Quetta-Sibi power transmission line were blown up in the Mach area of Bolan district on Thursday
According to reports reaching here, tribesmen fired several rockets on an FC checkpost in the Karmo-Wadh area in Kohlu. One FC soldier was killed after one of the rockets exploded near the post. Three other soldiers were injured. The assailants escaped when the FC personnel retaliated by firing rockets at them.
A man, identifying himself as Azad Baloch and claiming to be spokesman of the so-called Baloch Liberation Army, said the BLA was behind the attacks on FC posts. He claimed that heavy losses had been inflicted on security forces in rocket attacks and landmine explosions in Lehri and Karmo-Wadh areas.
Sources said that six rockets had been fired at an FC post in the Talngo area and three at a post in the Mach area. None of the rockets hit the posts. Two rockets were fired at posts in the Ghori Nullah area and the Ghazi post. No casualty was reported in the attacks.
Meanwhile, Coast Guards seized a large quantity of arms and ammunition from the Gwadar area. The cache included six rockets, eight anti-tank landmines, two hand-grenades and several hundred rounds.
In another raid, Kharan Rifles, a wing of the Frontier Corps, found arms and ammunition, including an anti-aircraft gun, six rocket launchers and mortar bombs, dumped underground in the Gorki Gori area near Nokundi.
Commenting on the attack on power pylons, a spokesman for the Quetta Electricity Supply Company (Qesco) said that Quetta and several other cities of the province were plunged into darkness at around 2:45am after the twin 220-KV towers of the Quetta-Sibi power transmission line were blown up with high explosives near the Bibi Nani area in Mach.
“Seven powerful explosions at brief intervals completely destroyed the two towers while another 132-KV tower was partially damaged,” a senior official of the Bolan district administration told Dawn over telephone.
“Balochistan transmission system is currently facing a shortage of 300-megawatt of electricity after the damage to towers,” the Qesco spokesman said.
He said that power supply to 20 grid stations in Quetta and others areas in the province had been affected.
“The supply will be restored after completion of repair work, which is likely to take five to six days,” the spokesman said.
He said that the shortage would be covered through load-shedding.
Some sources said that power supply to Quetta and some other parts of the province was restored in three hours through an alternate transmission line. However, many other areas are still without power.
