QUETTA, Feb 23: The Uch power plant producing 585MW of electricity was closed after a pipeline supplying gas to it was blown up near Sohbatpur area of Jaffarabad district on Wednesday.

According to sources, saboteurs planted an explosive device under the 18-inch diameter pipeline, supplying gas to the plant from the Uch field and detonated it.A senior official of the Nasirabad district said a big portion of the pipeline had been destroyed. It was the third such incident.Meanwhile, a power pylon was damaged when an explosive device went off near Mach area of Bolan district. Assailants placed a bomb near a 220kv pylon of the Sibi-Quetta double circuit transmission line in Mach area and blew it up.

However, there were no reports if the attack had disrupted power supply to Quetta and other parts of Balochistan.

A spokesman for the Quetta Electric Supply Company said that electricity shortage in the province had reached 900MW because of closure of the Uch plant and reduced generation by the Habibullah coastal power plant in Quetta on technical grounds.