QUETTA, 30 August 2006 — Bombs and riots yesterday rocked troubled southwest Pakistan province of Balochistan which witnessed its worst violence since the weekend killing of tribal leader Nawab Akbar Bugti. Protesting the killing of the popular tribal chief, mobs set buildings ablaze and four people died in a large bomb blast after funeral prayers were held for the departed leader. The explosion at a hotel in Hub, an industrial town some 600 kilometers (370 miles) south of the Balochistan provincial capital of Quetta, injured six others, police official Ghulam Ali Lashari said. Hub has seen a string of bomb blasts this year and the area has been on edge since Saturday when tribal chief Bugti was killed in a military strike that sparked widespread rioting in the Balochistan region. Earlier yesterday, a crowd firing weapons into the air had rampaged through the streets of Quetta following funeral prayers for Bugti. The mob torched a local bank and set a district government building alight, setting off plumes of thick black smoke, an AFP reporter said. Four makeshift bombs exploded in shops near the venue of the prayers. Police fired tear gas as well as rounds in the air to try to bring the situation under control, police official Abdul Khan said. Paramilitary troops were brought in to quell the violence. A policeman and eight protesters were injured in the gunfire and rushed to hospital, a police officer said, adding that around 100 people were detained during the day’s rioting. The mobs set ablaze some two dozen shops belonging to settlers in Quetta city and blocked roads by burning old tires, residents said. Thousands of people including former ministers and provincial governors attended the mass prayers in a local sports stadium for Bugti, a fiery leader who fought to give Balochis a greater share of the region’s gas revenues. Bugti, whose insurgency left hundreds of people dead over the past two years, was seen as a hero by many in the region for his battle against the central government of President Pervez Musharraf. It was the third consecutive day of unrest in the area, which has led to more than 500 people being arrested and two killed. Baloch nationalists also called a general strike in protest. Violence was also reported in several other areas in Balochistan yesterday, including in the coastal town of Turbat where protesters were said to have torched three shops and one bank. Bugti’s body has not yet been recovered from the cave which collapsed during a heavy exchange of fire between Pakistan security forces and his armed men, officials said. Pakistan military spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan told a press conference that it would take another four or five days to retrieve the body of Bugti from the rubble. Sultan said it was not clear what caused the blast and denied that Bugti was the target of the strike. “Our basic purpose is to retrieve the bodies from the cave,” Sultan said. Troops found two boxes in rubble which contained 100 million rupees ($60 million) and $96,000, some check books and a Thuraya satellite phone, Sultan said. Former Premier Benazir Bhutto called it a blow to the unity and integrity of the province. “His killing would further alienate the people of Balochistan from the center (Islamabad),” she said in a statement from London. She called for an end to military operations in Balochistan. Separatist sentiment has been bubbling in Balochistan ever since the founding of Pakistan nearly 60 years ago, and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said Monday the military had not deliberately targeted Bugti. But President Musharraf warned that his government would crush the insurgency.
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