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QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) Riots broke out Monday in southwestern Pakistan over the weekend killing of one of the country's most prominent tribal chiefs, with protesters torching shops and buses in a third day of unrest.
Nawab Akbar Bugti, who led a decades-long violent campaign for greater rights for ethnic Baluch tribespeople, was killed Saturday in a military raid. Riots in Quetta left as least two people dead and a dozen wounded Sunday, and police said they had made at least 500 arrests. On Monday, five people were injured in clashes between protesters and police in the town of Pasni where several shops were set ablaze in the bazaar. Police fired tear gas and gunshots into the air to disperse a mob, Pasni police officer Ahmed Ali Baluch said. In Gawadar, a remote town on the Arabian Sea coast, nearly 1,000 protesters set fire to a bank and two shops, local police officer Mohammed Iqbal said. Riots also broke out in the southern city of Karachi, where protesters burned two buses. Police fired tear gas to disperse about 500 people who had gathered to offer prayers for Bugti and chanted, "We want freedom" and "Death to Gen. Musharraf," referring to Pakistan's President Gen. Pervez Musharraf. Protesters in Quetta burned an income tax office and vehicles parked at a U.N. office. No injuries were reported. Offices and shops were closed and streets deserted because Baluch nationalists had called for a strike. Opposition ethnic-Baluch lawmakers denounced the government in a rowdy provincial assembly session in Quetta and vowed to avenge Bugti's death. "This is a major event in Baluch history. We didn't join this country in 1947 to have our tribal elders, political leaders and children killed," said opposition leader Kachkul Ali Baluch. Three opposition lawmakers were briefly taken into custody in Quetta but were freed after questioning about the street violence, said Mayor Mir Maqbool Ahmed Lehri. Bugti died when Pakistani troops, backed by helicopters, attacked his cave hide-out in the Kohlu area, about 140 miles east of Quetta, officials said. Authorities say the cave's roof collapsed, killing Bugti and 24 of his fighters. Tariq Azeem Khan, minister of state for information, tried to distance Pakistani troops from Bugti's killing, saying land mines set by the tribal leader around his hide-out exploded during the raid and destroyed the cave. He also claimed soldiers didn't know Bugti was there, saying the troops attacked the hide-out only after being shot at. Authorities accused Bugti, 79, of ordering attacks on vital government infrastructure to win more royalties for natural gas, oil and coal extracted from Baluchistan province, which borders Iran and Afghanistan. Bugti went into hiding after the army launched an offensive to crush Baluch rebels following a December 2005 rocket attack apparently targeting the Pakistani president. Pakistani authorities have not yet returned Bugti's body to his family, said the late leader's son, Talal. However, a funeral has been scheduled for Tuesday in a Quetta sports stadium, he said. In the capital, Islamabad, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said heavy equipment is being moved to the scene of Saturday's raid to clear debris and recover bodies. Musharraf said Baluchistan's people had been deprived of their rights in the past 50 years and he was working to improve their lot. "Baluchistan never had rights. They had never been given their rights. They had been crushed," Musharraf told a gathering in Murree, a hill town near Islamabad. U.S.-based Human Rights Watch demanded an investigation into the raid that led to Bugti's death amid "allegations of the use of disproportionate force." Pakistan's neighbor and rival, India, deplored the killing and said dialogue, not military force, was needed to solve Baluchistan's problems. "Bugti played a prominent role in Pakistani politics for over four decades," said Navtej Sarna, spokesman for India's External Affairs Ministry. "His death leaves a vacuum that will be difficult to fill." Pakistan rejected India's criticism and urged Delhi to use political means to address its own insurgencies instead of using "oppression" and force.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
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