QUETTA, May 26: A huge fire broke out in Sui after two pipelines supplying gas to the Sui plant exploded on Friday night. Another pipeline was blown up near the Goth Mazari in the Punjab-Balochistan border area suspending supply of gas to some parts of Punjab, official sources said.

“At least 60 shops, Sui grid station and levies thana were gutted, and the fire is still raging, posing threat to other shops in the township and nearby civilian settlements, a senior officer of the Sui police station told Dawn.

“There is no immediate threat to the main gas plant but supply from many wells to the plant, may have to be stopped, the sources said.

However, no casualty has been reported. But the sources said that about 20 people fell unconscious, overcome by the thick smoke. They were taken to the civil hospital in Sui.

Reports said that high explosives planted around the two big pipelines exploded at brief intervals. The blasts caused the huge fire which engulfed shops in the Sui tehsil bazar. The Sui grid station and levies thana were completely destroyed.

The flames could be seen from miles away, eyewitness Ataullah Bugti told Dawn on phone from Sui.

“Shops are still burning and there is no fire-tender in the township,” he said.

The sources said that the affected pipelines were supplying gas to the main purification plant from 20 to 30 gas wells that would affect the functioning of the plant and compressor.

According to another report, 24-inch diameter main pipeline was blown up near the Goth Mazari village on the Balochistan-Punjab border late last night. The pipeline supplies gas to many areas of Punjab.

“We have suspended supply to Kot Addo and some other areas of Punjab,” an official of the Sui Northern gas pipeline company said. A shop was destroyed in a hand-grenade attack in the Nushki township, some 160 km west of here, on late Thursday night.

According to police sources,the grenade was hurled on the roof of the shop in the main bazar. The blast rocked the township, causing panic among people.

Meanwhile, tribesmen opened fire on the gas well No.1 in the Sui field. Security forces returned fire forcing the attackers to retreat.

“The gas well is safe,” official sources said.

According to another report, some people fired three rockets in the Loti gas field area, but the rockets exploded in an open place. Police also found three rockets in the industrial town of Hub.