QUETTA, Pakistan, March 30 (Reuters) – A natural gas pipeline was blown up in southern Pakistan on Monday, suspending supply to several districts, an official said.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.
An 18-inch-diameter main gas supply pipeline was blown up by unknown people on the outskirts of Quetta city, the capital of restive Balochistan province, which borders Afghanistan and Iran, a spokesman for Sui Southern Gas Company said.
It suspended gas supply to several parts of the city and at least five more districts, he said.
Separatist insurgents and Islamist militants operate in the region.
The separatists have long been fighting against the state, targeting the government and military, and blame the central government in Islamabad for depriving the locals of what they say is their due share in the region’s mineral-rich resources.
Engineers were working to repair the pipeline, the SSGC spokesman said.
(Reporting by Saleem Ahmed in Quetta; Writing by Asif Shahzad; Editing by Nia Williams)
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