QUETTA, Oct 3: Supply of Sui gas to five districts of Balochistan, including Quetta, was disrupted when saboteurs blew up a portion of the main pipeline near Kolpur, some 40km southwest of the provincial capital early on Monday morning.

The affected districts are Pishin, Ziarat, Mastung, and Kalat, besides Quetta. The gas supply to consumers had not been restored till night. The saboteurs had planted explosive devices two different places near the main pipeline. One of the blasts damaged eight feet of a 12-inch diameter pipeline and the other a three-foot portion of and 18-inch diameter portion of the pipeline respective line..

A spokesman for the Balochistan Liberation Army, Azad Baloch, is reported to have claimed responsibility for the attack in an interview with an international media organization.

A statement issued by the Sui Southern Gas Company here said that the explosion hit the pipeline supplying gas from Shikarpur to Quetta at 2.30am. The statement said that gas supply had been discontinued for safety of the pipeline. Emergency teams were dispatched to the site of the explosion to undertake initial repairs, the statement added.

The damage caused to the pipeline was massive, the statement said, but the repair work was in full swing and the normal supply of gas to Quetta and its suburbs was likely to resume late on Monday night.

The worst affected consumers were in the Quetta city that has no alternative arrangements for kitchens.