Gas pipeline blown up in Pakistan
Suspected militants have blown up a gas pipeline in Baluchistan, the latest attack in the troubled province of southwest Pakistan where rebels are fighting for greater autonomy.
Nobody has declared responsibility for the attack, which took place on Tuesday.
But Baluch militants have waged a low-level insurgency for decades, and have intensified attacks on government installations and infrastructure facilities, including pipelines and transport links, in recent months.
The pipeline is owned by Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd, SNGPL, and feeds gas to the Punjab province.
Officials at the company said supplies to consumers remained unaffected.
A spokesman for SNGPL, Naeem Ahmad Khan, said: “One of our 30-inch diameter pipeline was damaged in the attack, which took place at around 1:30am and some 11km away from the Sui fields.”
Khan said the repair work on the damaged pipeline was likely to be completed within 24 hours.
On Monday, a smaller pipeline was blown up at the outskirts of Quetta, the capital of Baluchstan, disrupting gas supplies to some areas.