Pakistan arrests 14 suspects for Quetta bombing

Pakistani police have arrested at least 14 suspects in a series of raids following a deadly bombing in the southwestern city of Quetta that killed 11 people, police said yesterday.

The powerful bomb which exploded next to an army truck in Quetta on Friday also injured at least 27 people. Two army personnel were among the dead.

A shadowy nationalist group, the Baluch Liberation Army (BLA), claimed responsibility, saying that it had targeted the army personnel.

"Civilians are not our target," BLA spokesman Azad Baluch told reporters by telephone from his hide-out on Friday. "The bombing is a warning to the government to stop the construction of new cantonments and Gawadar (deep-sea) port in Baluchistan." The BLA had claimed similar attacks in the past.

Bhatti said security had been beefed up in Quetta and other major centres in Baluchistan. Witnesses said police were patrolling Quetta streets in vehicles and on horseback.

Baluchistan, Pakistan's largest but most backward province which borders Afghanistan, is awash with smuggled weapons and drugs.

The nationalists are demanding greater political and economic rights for Baluchistan. But officials say they lack popular support and are backed only by a handful of tribal chiefs.