More rebels killed in Balochistan campaign

South Asia News

More rebels killed in Balochistan campaign

Islamabad, July 10 (IANS) More than 20 rebels were killed and 15 injured in clashes with security forces in Pakistan's Balochistan province over the weekend, reports say. But no official data is available on the ongoing campaign.

While the Pakistani federal and the provincial governments claim to have 'eliminated' the rebellion, the campaign there has gone on. Seven 'farari' (rebel) camps were eliminated in Dera Bugti district, the heartland of rebellion.

Pakistan issued an angry riposte to a detailed New York Times report on the rebellion in April that claimed that the defence forces had resorted to strafing the rebels and their camps using gun ships.

President Pervez Musharraf, who said that the rebellion was confined only to 'two or three sardars' (tribal chiefs) whom the government would 'sort out', later announced a hefty jobs-and-funds package for the country's largest, but most sparsely populated, province.

However, the rebels, led by Nawab Akbar Bugti, have not been satisfied. They want a higher share of the royalty for the gas and other natural resources being exploited from the province, besides more democratic rights.

One of Pakistan's principal concerns has been to prevent sabotage of the gas pipelines that feed the entire country. Breaches have occurred frequently.

According to Online news agency. security forces foiled a bid to blow up Loti gas plant and detained four terrorists near Dera Bugti on Sunday. Sources said that the security forces conducted a raid when some unknown militants were trying to destroy the plant.

The security forces did not suffer any loss in the operation, the spokesman asserted. He said the security forces interrupted the communication of the terrorists, by which they came to know about the number of deaths and injured.

The bodies of the rebels and those injured have not been identified. 'Neither have we recovered any body nor do we know the whereabouts of the injured,' a government spokesman was quoted by The News daily.

According to the newspaper, there is no official data about how many camps had been eliminated since the operation was launched a year ago in Dera Bugti and Kohlu districts and how many people killed. There is also no word on how many Bugti tribesmen have surrendered so far.

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More rebels killed in Balochistan campaign