Blasts kill up to 14 in Pakistan tribal belt - Army

ISLAMABAD, Friday (Reuters, AFP) - Up to 14 people were killed in a series of explosions in Pakistan's tribal region bordering Afghanistan early on Friday, the military said.

A resident of the Bajaur tribal region, which borders Afghanistan's insurgency-troubled Kunar province, said the explosions were caused by firing from unidentified aircraft on the village of Damadola, which had killed 18 people.

Military spokesman Major-General Shaukat Sultan said he did not know the cause of the blasts, but added: "People heard explosions and as a result, there were a number of casualties. My information is that 11 to 14 people have been killed."

Damadola is close to the Afghan border, about 200 km (125 miles) northwest of the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.

Shah Jehan, a shopkeeper who lives about two km (one mile) from the village, said the blasts happened at about 3 a.m. (2200 GMT on Thursday).

"According to our information, 18 people have been killed," Jehan said.

Bajaur is part of Pakistan's long, rugged tribal belt bordering Afghanistan.

The nearby Waziristan tribal region has been the scene of clashes between security forces and al Qaeda militants for more than two years, but there have been no previous reports of fighting in Bajaur.

Earlier suspected tribal insurgents blew up a gas pipeline in southern Pakistan early Thursday, the latest act of sabotage in the troubled region, police said.

The explosion happened near Kandh Kot in Sindh province, around 450 kilometres (279 miles) north of Karachi, local police officer Shahab Mazhar told AFP.

"A 2.5-foot (nearly one metre) piece of the gas pipeline was blown up and it created a crater around six inches deep, but supplies to consumers have not been affected," Mazhar said.

Meanwhile Pakistani forces shot dead 12 suspected tribal militants in the country's unstable southwest after a roadside bomb blast killed three soldiers, a government official said.

The incidents near the Pirkoh gasfield, about 400 kilometres southeast of Quetta, were the bloodiest for months to rock the increasingly volatile province of Baluchistan.

The three paramilitary Frontier Corps soldiers died and three were wounded when their vehicle carrying food for the gasfield was hit a remote controlled bomb, district coordination officer Abdul Samad Lasi told AFP.

Shortly afterwards dozens of armed insurgents attacked the gasfield, which is near Dera Bugti, the stronghold of diehard anti-government tribal chieftain Nawab Akbar Bugti.

"The soldiers retaliated and killed 12 miscreants," Lasi said, using the official Pakistani jargon for extremists. "The miscreants wanted to occupy the gasfield," he added.