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| India-Pakistan |
| Baluchistan attacks leave 3 dead |
| 2006-03-27 |
| Suspected rebel tribesmen attacked a mountaintop military post Sunday on a route in southwestern Pakistan being used by hundreds of refugees returning home, triggering a gunbattle that left two attackers and a soldier dead, officials said. Another attacker was killed in a land mine explosion as he tried to escape after the shootout near Sui, a tribal town in southwestern Baluchistan province, local government official Abdul Samad Lasi said. Two soldiers were reported injured in the gun fight. The roadside post was attacked before 1,500 former refugees traveled through the area as part of a government-sponsored program to move them back to the ancestral region they left more than a decade ago because of tribal feuding. Hundreds of heavily armed troops accompanied by helicopter gunships guarded the refugees on the journey from Kashmor, a town in neighboring southern Sindh province. When they reached Dera Bugti in Baluchistan on Sunday afternoon, about 300 town residents lined a street to welcome them, many cheering and clapping their hands. Colorful buntings and signs were put up at a school building where they were served food. One sign read: "Congratulations on the dismantling of Akbar Bugti's self-created state." Nawab Akbar Bugti, a rebel tribal chief who is accused of leading recent attacks against government installations in Dera Bugti, allegedly forced the people to leave their homes in 1993. His rival clan has also accused him of killing dozens of their members. Bugti, who is in hiding, is accused by authorities of using royalties for resources extracted from his area to strengthen his own power rather than to help develop the province. Armed tribesmen loyal to Bugti have been accused of attacking military bases and gas fields near the town. A spokesman for Bugti denied his men had carried out the killing of rivals. "They are saying what the government tells them to say," spokesman Amanullah Kanrani said from Quetta, referring to the allegations by the rival clan. He said the refugees were taken to the area to dilute Bugti's influence and it would incite tribal fighting. A senior army official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with policy, told reporters at an army garrison in Kashmor that the repatriation of the tribesmen was an effort by the government to peacefully settle the conflict in Dera Bugti. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, who was on a visit to Quetta on Sunday, held talks with senior provincial government officials on the situation in Baluchistan. At a press conference afterward, Aziz said the government will use all its resources against those who challenge government authority and restore peace. On Saturday, an official said 57 tribesmen have been arrested in recent days in connection with a string of bomb and rocket attacks in Baluchistan which have left more than 250 people in just over a year. Most of the people were Bugti and Marri tribesmen, Mujeebur Rahman, a senior police official, said Saturday in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan. Marri tribesmen have also been blamed for attacks against the government. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |