QUETTA, Jan 15: At least eight people were killed in clashes between armed men and security forces in Kahan area of Kohlu district on Sunday, while a pipeline supplying gas to the Uch power plant was blown up near Dera Murad Jamali. Also on Sunday, traffic between Khuzdar and Karachi remained suspended for several hours after a bridge on the RCD highway was blown up near Wadh.

Two powerful explosions rocked the Wadh town and a house was attacked with a hand-grenade in the Shahbaz town of Quetta.

Meanwhile, Marri tribesmen alleged that paramilitary forces had taken over control of the Kahan town which had been under heavy attack for two days. Most of the people of Kahan are reported to have left the town.

According to official sources, armed men fired at least 48 rockets from mountains targeting the FC fort in Kahan. Most of the rockets exploded close to the fort and a few of them in the residential areas of the town.

There might have been causalities as some rockets had hit residential areas, officials said. They said that the walls of the FC fort were damaged.

Other sources said that at least eight people had been killed in Kahan while Marri tribesmen put the death toll at 10.

“Kahan town is under the control of security forces,” Marri tribesman Allah Bakhsh Marri said, adding that a heavy contingent of paramilitary forces had been deployed in the town.

The attack on the pipeline supplying gas to the Uch power plant in Dera Murad Jamali from the Uch gas field resulted in closure of the plant owned by British and US companies. The plant was shut at around 9 pm.

“Saboteurs planted high explosives around the 24-inch diametre pipeline and blew it up near Goth Khadim Hussain in tehsil Chatter of Dera Murad Jamali,” official sources said, adding that the pipeline caught fire after the explosion and supply of the gas through the pipeline was stopped. The closure of the plant affected power supply to some areas of Sibi and Nasirabad.

Work to repair the damaged pipeline would begin on Monday, sources said, adding that the work would take at least two days. The pipeline supplying gas to the Uch power plant has been blown up for the second time in one-and-a-half weeks. On Jan 4, the pipeline was blown up in the same area resulting in suspension of power generation for three days.

In another incident, which occurred some 8 km from the Wadh town, a bridge on the RCD Highway, linking Balochistan with Karachi, was blown up. Traffic between Khuzdar and Karachi was suspended after the explosion. Hundreds of vehicles were stranded on both sides of the damaged bridge. However, NHA engineers restored traffic through a diversion.

In Quetta, some people attacked a house in Shahbaz Town’s phase- 3 with a hand-grenade on late Sunday night. The grenade exploded in the backyard of the house smashing windowpanes and doors of the house. Reports reaching here said that a number of rockets were fired on an FC checkpost in Barkhan area. However, the rockets missed their target.