ISLAMABAD, 28 January 2005 — Amid an escalating campaign of tribal violence in troubled southwestern Pakistan, a key railway track was ripped apart by a blast for the third time in a week yesterday, officials said.

The attack in Balochistan province, which borders Afghanistan and Iran, came a day after the military announced plans to set up a new garrison to protect the country’s largest gas field.

Renegade tribesmen believed to have links with nationalist groups have waged a long battle to get more jobs and royalties from the province’s natural resources, with their attacks intensifying in recent weeks.

President Pervez Musharraf repeated an earlier warning to the rebels not to push the government too far after meeting the governor of Balochistan to discuss the law and order situation.

“No one would be allowed to disrupt the ongoing process of development in the province and deprive the people of Balochistan of their right to progress,” Musharraf said in comments reported by official news agency APP. In yesterday’s attack, a blast ripped apart the mainline near Mushkaf, about 85 kilometers (52 miles) west of the provincial capital Quetta, senior railway official Ghulam Rasool told reporters.

“The track was damaged by explosives planted by saboteurs,” Rasool said.

Two trains to Quetta were delayed for a few hours before engineers could repair the main line, which links Balochistan with the southern port city of Karachi, he said.

Railway authorities had already banned all trains from running at night in Balochistan after a blast hit the line late Monday. The same line was hit by another explosion on Saturday.

Meanwhile a rocket landed near an electrical grid station in Sibbi, about 150 kilometers (90 miles) from Quetta late Wednesday, but there was no damage. Local residents said they heard three blasts, but it could not be confirmed. A bomb also exploded in a public park in Quetta late Wednesday, but caused no casualties or damage.

No one has claimed responsibility for the latest blasts but a little-known nationalist group, the Balochistan Liberation Army, said it carried out Tuesday’s rail attack and the bombing of a government office in Quetta the same day. The organization is believed to have links to the restive tribesmen, who have recently stepped up attacks on key installations and security forces in the impoverished province to press their demands.

Earlier this month the rebels rained rockets on Pakistan’s main gas field at Sui in Balochistan, killing eight people and suspending the supply to millions of homes and hundreds of industrial units.

Pakistan’s army said Wednesday it would press on with the building of a controversial garrison in Sui, which is about 320 kilometers (200 miles) from Quetta.

Militants, Soldiers Trade Fire in Restive Pakistani Tribal District

Pakistani soldiers yesterday traded fire with suspected Al-Qaeda-linked militants in a restive tribal region near the Afghan border, officials said. The shootout took place in Asman Manza, some 30 kilometers (18 miles) north of South Waziristan’s main town of Wana, a military official who requested anonymity told reporters.

South Waziristan, some 370 kilometers southwest of Islamabad, was the scene of several pitched battles between troops and militants last year.

The latest exchange of fire continued for about 30 minutes late yesterday in mountainous snow-covered Asman Manza, the official said but gave no details of casualties.

Security forces in Pakistan killed more than 300 foreign and local militants and lost about 200 soldiers in battles in South Waziristan last year.

— With input from agencies