Blasts cause province-wide gas disruption

Twin explosions follow late Monday night attack on four transmission pylons in the Bolan area.

QUETTA:

Gas supply to Balochistan was suspended on Tuesday after suspected militants blew up two major natural gas pipelines.

“We have suspended gas supply to the province as the pipelines are on fire,” Inayatullah Ismail, a spokesperson for the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) told Reuters.

Officials said unidentified people attached explosive devices with the main gas pipeline in Tool Plaza area near Dera Allahyar and Dera Murad Jamali early morning and detonated, which were detonated by a remote control.

The blast destroyed the 18-inch diameter gas pipeline disrupting gas supply to the provincial capital and other parts of the province.

The fire, which erupted from the pipeline, also caused disruption to the flow of traffic on the national highway in Dera Murad Jamali.

“The gas pipeline was blown up and the incident injured a security official,” a senior police officer said. Balochistan Levies and Police reached the area to inspect the site.

Suspected militants blew up another gas pipeline connected to Shehzad Khot and Quetta. The attack cut supply to Quetta, Sibi, Dadhar, Naseerabad, Jaffarabad and other townships.

We cannot give a timeframe to restore gas supply until repair teams reach the area,” an official of SSGC told The Express Tribune.

“There has been immense damage to pipelines, and repair work will take some time,” he added. The official said gas supply to industrial units and CNG stations has also been suspended. The remaining gas is being supplied to domestic consumers, which may last eight hours.

In a separate incident, unidentified militants blew up a 220 KV power pylon near Dera Allahyar in Naseerabad district.

According to the Quetta Electric Supply Company (Qesco) spokesperson, suspected militants planted the explosive materials to a power pylon of 220 kv in Dera Allahyar area of Naseerabad district. After the attack, power supply was cut to Naseerabad.

Qesco had already increased the hours for power outages in and around Quetta due to the shortfall of electricity, while power supply to 15 other districts is yet to be restored,” the spokesperson added.

He said that the repair works on four damaged power pylons in Mach town are underway and for the time being there is a shortfall of more than 100MW power in Balochistan. “There was no electricity available in Khuzdar, Kalat, Mastung for the past two days,” a resident told The Express Tribune through phone.

The banned outfit Baloch Republican Army (BRA) claimed responsibility for blowing up the pipelines. Calling from an undisclosed location, BRA spokesperson, who introduced himself as Sarbaz Baloch, vowed to carry out such attacks in the future as well.

With additional input from Rueters

Published in The Express Tribune, February 9th, 2011.