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American weaponry used by Pakistan Army to kill Balochistan leader

2006-08-29 Cobra helicopter gunships and surveillance aircraft supplied by the US were reportedly used in Saturday's military operation to carry out the extra judicial murder of Baluch leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti.

According to an intelligence source in Islamabad, three Cessna aircraft, given to Pakistan last year to help catch heroin smugglers, have also been drafted into service against the rebels.

These weapons were provided by the United States to Pakistan to catch Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders across the rugged Durrand Line border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

However with no progress being made on that front, and with Pakistan signing repeated cease-fire's[1] with the Taliban, the weapons were put to use against the Balochistan leader, who was seen as a political rival of General Musharraf.

The Bush administration is aware the weaponry is being used against the Balochis, the source said. He referred to a June 26 Time magazine report in which a US official was quoted saying there was nothing in the agreement with Pakistan to prevent it from using the US equipment against the Baluchis.

"The equipment is meant for internal security," he had said.

But a Baluch source in Quetta claimed the strike was carried out with US assistance. According to him, Bugti was a major critic of the US, which, he felt, wants to take control of Pakistan's 700 mile coastal belt in the garb of building Gwadar port.

[1] Ceasefire extended between Pakistan, Taliban on the Afghan border

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