QUETTA, 10 July 2006 — At least 23 tribal militants were killed in an offensive by Pakistani security forces in southwestern Balochistan province, the second such attack in less than a week, officials said yesterday.
Troops, backed by helicopter gunships, launched the operation in Sangsilla and Bhambore areas of the Dera Bugti district on Saturday that continued yesterday.
“At least 23 miscreants have been killed and 15 wounded,” provincial government spokesman Raziq Bugti said, adding information was based on intercepted communications between the rebels.
“Search operation in these areas are continuing and the security forces have to use force when face resistance,” Raziq Bugti told DPA. At least 25 militants were killed in the same area last week.
A security official said seven “terrorist training camps” had been destroyed in the latest operation while 50 rebels surrendered to the security forces. There was no immediate comment available from the militants.
Local TV channel Geo said paramilitary soldiers used helicopter gunships in support of the ground forces to target the militants’ hide-outs.
A tribal fighter denied the government claim that rebel tribesmen suffered casualties. “No one has even been wounded,” Wadera Alam Khan said by satellite phone from Dera Bugti.
It was impossible to reconcile or confirm the conflicting claims by the government and Khan, who is a close of Nawab Akbar Bugti, a fugitive tribal chief who is accused of leading the anti-government armed tribesmen.
Baloch militants have been fighting for greater autonomy and more control over the poor but resource-rich province’s mineral resources — notably its gas reserves — for decades.
They regularly blow up railway links, gas pipelines and power pylons, and launch attacks on government buildings and army bases to press their demands.
The simmering revolt escalated in December when rebels fired rockets during a visit by President Pervez Musharraf to the town of Kohlu.
Militants say more than 200 people have been killed in government’s crackdown in the region this year but analysts said the figure appears to be exaggerated. Baloch militants resent that profits earned from oil and gas exploration were used for the development of other provinces, notably central Punjab, instead of their backward region.
Musharraf has announced plans for major infrastructure projects in Balochistan but has also vowed to deal firmly with the rebel leaders.
Meanwhile, according to Dera Bugti District Coordination Officer Abdul Samad Lasi the chief of Bugti tribe, Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, has fled from his previous hide-out to a new one in Kahan in the Marri areas. But this was quickly denied by a leader of the Jamhoori Watan Party Amanullah Khan Karnani, who said. “The chief of the Bugti tribe is unharmed and is present in Bugti area.”
As these contradictory statements were aired, the Pakistani Army continued its mopping up operations against the militants of the defunct Balochistan Liberation Army.
Militants on Saturday destroyed the main electric 1000 KV transformer, which supplies electricity to Dera Bugti. The army had stationed gunships at Sui near Dera Bugti on Saturday for the operation that it launched later.
A highly-placed source in Balochistan’s capital Quetta said that the Pakistan Air Force’s jets and gunships heavily pounded BLA training camps and hide-outs on Saturday. Jet fighters bombarded Bobby, Shank, Bhambore, Toba Nokhani, Pir Sohri and Hunn. All these places are in the hills and provide natural protection to militants.
Akbar Bugti has been hiding out in one of these places. Sources said Akbar Bugti has now shifted to the Marri area where he has been given sanctuary by the sons of Nawab Khair Bux Marri, popularly known as KB.
Raziq Bugti had confirmed on Saturday that the military action that began on Wednesday had been intensified and PAF jets were pounding the camps of BLA militants.
Unofficial reports claim that several men of the Frontier Corps also died on Saturday. But Raziq said: “No such losses occurred, so far only BLA militants have been killed.”
He added: “In fact Nawab Akbar Bugti’s command structure has been severely fractured by security forces.”
