QUETTA, Dec 24: Several people were killed in a clash between the Frontier Corps and armed Bugti tribesmen in Bakar area of Dera Bugti on Saturday while the military action in Kohlu against the Marri tribesmen continued.

Official sources said that the FC troops were on their way to Bakar to carry out an operation against militants’ camps when they came under rocket attack and heavy fire in the area near the border of Kohlu.

The sources said that the FC troops returned the fire, adding that a heavy gunbattle continued for several hours. Many casualties were reported, the official sources said, without giving any figure.

Sources in Dera Bugti, however, claimed that the FC troops had attacked the Bugti tribesmen in which at least 20 people were killed.

“Paramilitary forces were attacked in Bakar area by armed men of Bugti tribe,” said District Coordination Officer Abdul Samad Lasi.

Jamhoori Watan Party chief Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti told reporters in Dera Bugti that the FC troops had launched a massive attack in the area using helicopter gunships and jet fighters.

“At least 20 people were killed and over 80 injured in the FC attack,” the veteran tribal leader said, adding that most of the victims were women and children.

Tension ran high in Dera Bugti and other areas of the district following the Bakar incident and armed Bugti tribesmen were seen taking positions on mountains.

Meanwhile, the action against the Marri tribesmen allegedly involved in subversion activities and attacks on security forces continued in various parts of Kohlu, the sources said, adding that paramilitary forces had taken over a vast area.

The sources quoted Marri tribesmen as saying that helicopter gunships were firing missiles and rockets at houses in the areas of Katmondai, Peshi, Taranani, Jhabar and Kahan.

“Forces are not allowing us to remove bodies and the injured,” a Marri tribesman, Abdul Nabi, Marri told Dawn by phone.

Besides, a powerful explosion reportedly occurred in Mastung area, some 55km from here, on Saturday morning.

An official of the Mastung administration said the device had been planted near the wall of a police station. “A portion of the wall was damaged by the blast,” he added.