Balochistan resistance leader killed in Pakistan air strikes
Dated 27/8/2006
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The Pakistan armed forces have reportedly killed top Baloch tribal leader Nawab Akbar Bugti and nearly 25 of his supporters in a massive air assault, agencies reported.
It is a body blow to a long-running ethnic resistance movement, government and security officials said. At least five security forces also died.
Information Minister Mohammed Ali Durrani confirmed the death of Bugti - the most prominent leader in the rebellion by Baluch tribesmen - in the operation.
A top security official, who declined to be named because of the sensitive nature of the topic, said at least 24 militants were killed. Other intelligence sources said as many as 37 militants had died.
Army spokesman, Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, confirmed four army officers and one soldier had died. But the security official said at least 16 security forces, including four officers, were killed. Other intelligence officials gave a similar toll.
Bugti's son-in-law Agha Shahaid Bugti told The Associated Press that he had no contact with his father-in-law, and said he had learned through media that government forces had killed Bugti.
Former senator
Bugti, 79, a former senator and governor of Baluchistan, was an articulate spokesman for the Baluch cause for decades.
He turned against the government amid disputes over distribution of revenues for natural gas extracted from tribal territories in the province, Pakistan's largest and poorest.
The silver-haired tribal leader, educated at the exclusive Aitchison College in Lahore, had dubbed Pakistani army forces "invaders and occupiers" for expanding military garrisons in the region.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of Bugti tribesmen have been fighting under his uncompromising leadership.
The security official said the operation that killed Bugti was launched after a land mine blew up a vehicle carrying security forces in Kolhu. Four security personnel were wounded in the blast.
Between 50 and 80 of Bugti's supporters were then located at a cave in mountains at Karmu Wadh in the district of Kolhu on Saturday evening, following the intercept of a satellite phone call, the official said.
Security forces surrounded the cave. In the gun battle that followed militants fired rockets and guns and the military used helicopter gunships, the official said.
