Body of slain tribal leader pinned under boulder

PAKISTAN: Pakistani soldiers searching a cave found the body of a fugitive tribal leader whose death in a military raid sparked large-scale unrest, but it was pinned under a boulder and will take days to retrieve, army officials said Thursday.

Nawab Akbar Bugti, 79, was killed after an explosion destroyed his mountain cave hide-out in the Tartari area of Kohlu district in southwestern Baluchistan province. His son has said the violence that has gripped southern Pakistan since his death would continue until his father's body was returned.

Two senior army officials, who declined to identify themselves further because of the sensitivity of the search for Bugti's remains, said soldiers working at the cave on Wednesday spotted his head and shoulders protruding from underneath a giant boulder.

It would take at least three days to remove his body from underneath the boulder, one of the officials, who works in army intelligence, said.

Bugti's death has days of rioting and protests in southern Pakistan, especially in Baluchistan, a fiercely independent region bordering Iran and Afghanistan.

The violence left at least six dead and dozens wounded, while police have detained at least 700 rioters.

Bugti had led an often violent political campaign against the Pakistani government to win a greater share of wealth obtained from natural resources, like gas and oil, extracted in the region.

On Wednesday, hundreds of protesters blocked highways throughout Baluchistan, cutting Quetta off to major cities like Karachi in the south and Lahore to the east. Hundreds of people were prevented from going to work and scores of businesses and offices shut for the day. But officials said Thursday that all the roads were now open and traffic had returned to normal.

Bugti's son, Jamil, warned that the unrest would continue until his father's body is returned to his family for burial.

Tartari, Thursday, AP