Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao on Monday declared that security forces would remain in Sui and Dera Bugti to protect national assets and counter terrorists who posed threats to gas plants and people in the area. Speaking at a press conference at the chief minister's secretariat after attending a meeting on the Sui situation, the minister said the government would strictly deal with saboteurs to ensure continuation of the projects that had been launched to promote economic activity. The provincial governor, chief minister, corps commander, federal railways secretary and officials of law-enforcement agencies attended the meeting. Mr Sherpao said federal security forces were deployed in Sui on the request of the provincial cabinet was the situation became alarming after gas installations had been damaged in rocket attacks on Jan 7.He said 819 rockets were fired and 47 bombs exploded in Sui our the past six months. He said the damage to the plants caused about Rs400 million loss to the Pakistan Petroleum Limited while the provincial government lost Rs154 million in excise royalty due to suspension of gas supply. He said industries were facing losses of Rs150 million to Rs200 million a day since the gas plants were targeted. He said that since 2003, 1,529 rockets had been fired and 113 bombs exploded in Quetta, Sui, Kohlu and Gwadar. He said no government would tolerate such acts. The minister said that after the deployment of security forces in Sui the situation had become calm but the saboteurs had changed their tactics and were now targeting railway tracks and electricity transmission towers to create disorder. He said militiamen had been posted at vital points on railway bridges and transmission lines but in the wake of an increase in subversive acts the government would beef up security measures to protect sensitive installations.