Pakistan's tribal areas have always been restive

Tribal militants blew up a gas pipeline on Saturday and fired more than 200 rockets at the main paramilitary forces base in south western Pakistan, injuring one soldier and damaging part of the facility, an official said.

In a separate attack in the area, militants targeted a gas installation with a barrage of rockets, killing a soldier and two civilians, said Abdul Samad Lasi, the region's top government official. The strike was in the town of Sui, he said.

"The terrorists from the Bugti tribe fired dozens of rockets," Lasi said. "We are tracking them. They will not be spared."

Earlier on Saturday, three bombs were used in the pipeline blast in Dera Bugti, about 300km (180miles) east of Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, Lasi said.

Dera Bugti - the site of Pakistan's main gas field - has been the scene of small-scale military operations against the Bugti tribe, which has been demanding more royalties for the resources extracted from its territory.

The Bugti tribe and other local elders are also opposed to the setting up of new military garrisons in their areas.

Repeat violence?

Officials say the garrisons were designed to protect oil installations and the staff working there.

The first rocket attack began late on Friday and lasted until dawn on Saturday. It was launched by supporters of the renegade tribal elder Nawab Akbar Bugti, who was also suspected in the pipeline blast, Lasi said.

He said one rocket hit an army officer's office, injuring a guard and damaging the structure. Dozens of rockets also struck walls and an open area inside the base of the Frontier Corps, he said.

The latest attacks came a day after Lasi accused Bugti's men of damaging his house with a bomb. Nobody was injured in Friday's attack in Hab, a town about 700km (435miles) southeast of Quetta.

The continued unrest in Baluchistan's tribal areas has raised fears of a repeat of violence that rocked the province in the 1970s, when thousands died in a large-scale military operation against rebellious tribesmen.

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