QUETTA, 9 February 2005 — Suspected tribal militants blew up a telecommunications tower in Pakistan’s restive southwest yesterday, disrupting telephone services to thousands in the latest in a series of almost daily attacks, officials said.

A blast also erupted outside a dining hall for paramilitary troops in the same area, causing no casualties, a day after rebel tribesman attacked a key rail link.

A rocket damaged the microwave tower of the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd. (PTCL) in Galungoor, some 115 km west of Quetta, the provincial capital of Baluchistan province, PTCL Media Officer Mehboob Baloch said.

“The attack caused suspension of some 7,000 telephone lines in three districts of Baluchistan and cost millions of rupees in losses to PTCL,” Baloch said.

The day before day rebel tribesmen attacked a key rail link after damaging another track.

A powerful bomb ripped up a two-foot-long piece of track late Monday in Bakhtiarabad, 180 km southwest of Quetta, Railway Controller Aziz Ahmad said yesterday.

It is the main line out of Baluchistan, which is in the midst of an escalating rebellion by angry tribesmen demanding a bigger share of the profits from the province’s abundant natural resources.

Another bomb hit a rail track in Killi Almo, on the outskirts of the capital, at around the same time, causing a crater but only minor damage to the track, which links the city to the Afghan border, said rail official Mohammad Jawaid.

Meanwhile, two bombs detonated within fifteen minutes of each other in separate bazaars in Kalat town, some 145 km southwest of Quetta Monday. Police said there were no casualties.

Another blast Monday blew up a telephone system in a remote town in Barkhan district near the Punjab border, officials said.

Bombs targeting railway tracks and government installations have been exploding with increasing frequently in Baluchistan, the biggest and poorest of Pakistan’s four provinces.

No one claimed responsibility for the latest bombings but a shadowy group linked to the tribesman called the Baluchistan Liberation Army has said it carried out many of the others in the region.

Rail authorities last month banned both passenger and goods trains from running after nightfall in the province to guard against further attacks.

The current unrest has flared since the rape in January of a woman doctor at Pakistan’s largest gas field in Sui, also in Baluchistan, and subsequent rocket attacks on the facilities which left eight people dead.

On Monday a man claiming to be a Baluchistan Liberation Army spokesman threatened to blow up a key oil installation in neighboring Punjab province, marking an apparent attempt to spread the violence further afield.

Officials said they had tightened security around a nuclear plant and other important sites in Punjab.