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Scotsman.com
 
Tuesday, 29th August 2006

Latest News - International

Reuters Tue 29 Aug 2006
Protesters chant slogans during a protest...

Protesters chant slogans during a protest against the killing of Baluch rebel leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti in Karachi, August 29, 2006. REUTERS/Zahid Hussein

Blast kills 3 as violence erupts in Pakistan

By Gul Yousafzai

QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Security forces and gunmen clashed in the capital of Pakistan's Baluchistan province on Tuesday after prayers for a slain rebel leader, while a blast elsewhere killed three people, police said.

Violent protests have erupted across gas-rich Baluchistan since nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti was killed on Saturday in a government assault on his cave hideout in the remote hills of Pakistan's biggest but poorest province.

Police said about 10,000 people had attended prayers for Bugti in Quetta. Mourners later threw stones at police and set fire to government offices, shops and vehicles.

Firing erupted between protesters on rooftops and police and paramilitary troops below, a witness said. Sporadic gunfire went on for several hours.

Police initially said a constable had been killed but later said they made a mistake and two police were wounded.

Provincial police chief Chaudhry Mohammad Yaqub told Reuters more than 60 people had been arrested.

A former provincial governor, Bugti, 79, went underground this year and joined rebels who have been waging an insurgency for decades for autonomy and a greater share of profits from Baluchistan's resources.

The rebels have stepped up attacks in the past year with a string of bloody raids and bomb blasts.

Government officials said security forces had not targeted Bugti but that he was killed when explosives went off during heavy fighting in a cave, which then collapsed. The government said his body had not yet been recovered from the rubble.

But political analysts and opposition politicians have been sceptical of the government explanation and said his killing appeared to have been intentional.

Analysts say Bugti's killing is likely to inflame opposition in Baluchistan. It could also stir nationalist sentiment in other provinces and galvanise broad opposition to President Pervez Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup.

BLASTS

A bomb exploded in a roadside restaurant in the Baluchistan town of Hub, killing three people and wounding up to nine, police said. Provincial interior minister Shoaib Nausherwani said it was too early to say if the blast was linked to the protests.

A bomb also went off near a market in the eastern city of Lahore, wounding three people, police said. Baluch rebels have in the past been accused of deadly blasts in the city but police declined to speculate on who might have been responsible.

Rioting erupted in the port city of Gwadar and several other parts of Baluchistan, police said.

The military said 1,500 Baluch militants had surrendered on Tuesday, apparently because they had lost hope after Bugti's death. The military also vowed to continue operations against rebels who refused to disarm.

The Baluchistan rebels have no links with Islamist fighters on the Afghan border who have also been battling security forces, security officials say.

Opposition politicians also denounced Bugti's killing.

"Nawab Akbar Bugti was murdered and this is part of the charge sheet against the government," said Makdoom Amin Fahim, a leader of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party.

(Additional reporting by Kamran Haider and Arshad Sharif in ISLAMABAD)

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This article: http://news.scotsman.com/latest_international.cfm?id=1276232006

Last updated: 29-Aug-06 17:52 BST