Military killing of rebel tribal leader sparks massive rioting in Pakistan

HUNDREDS of rioters angered by the killing of a rebel Baluch tribal leader rampaged through a south-western Pakistani city yesterday, burning shops, banks and police vehicles.

Government forces killed Nawab Akbar Bugti, the most prominent leader in the rebellion by Baluch tribesmen, in a raid on his cave hideout in the mountainous area of the south-western provinces of Baluchistan. At least 24 suspected rebel supporters were also killed in a blow to the long-running ethnic resistance movement.

Police arrested 450 rioters who rampaged overnight through the city of Quetta, defying a round-the-clock curfew imposed yesterday, said Suleman Sayed, the city’s police chief.

Violence also spread throughout Baluchistan and to the southern port of Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city and capital of neighbouring Sindh province.

Large crowds of Baluch people pelted cars with stones and set tires alight in Karachi, police said. Extra police and paramilitary forces were deployed.

Bugti and his supporters were killed when the cave’s roof collapsed under fire from military forces.