Policeman killed, power line bombed in southwest Pakistan
'Pakistan Times' Balochistan Bureau

QUETTA: Gunmen shot dead a policeman and suspected rebels bombed electricity pylons and fired rockets at security forces and gasfields in southwestern Pakistan, officials said.

The unidentified attackers fled after killing the police official late Sunday at a bazaar in Osta Mohammad, a town in troubled Baluchistan province, local police chief Shams-ud-Din Koraee said on Monday.

The killing sparked protests in the towns of Dera Bugti and Sui where markets were closed and angry residents burnt tyres to condemn the violence, local residents said.

It was the second killing of a policeman in two days after another was kidnapped and beheaded in the region on Saturday by suspected militants loyal to tribal chieftain Nawab Akbar Bugti.
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Separately insurgents fired 19 rockets at the Loti and Pirkoh gasfields and at security posts in Chashma and Sangseela villages early Monday but there was no damage, regional administrator Abdul Samad Lasi said.

Paramilitary troops defused seven landmines at Habib Rahi village in Dera Bugti district and seized explosives and three rockets from a secret arms dump there on Monday, Lasi said.

Militants blew up three electricity pylons early Monday at Miyan Ghundi near the provincial capital Quetta, an official said. Power was restored a few hours later.

Six policemen were killed and dozens were wounded on Thursday in a series of landmine blasts on a firing range at a police training school in Quetta.●