Gas supply to a vast area of Sohbatpur district in Naseerabad division was suspended on Tuesday after unidentified assailants blew up a gas pipeline.
Police said the incident occurred within the limits of Shaheed Malik Muhammad Ali Police Station near Sohbatpur. The attackers targeted a six-inch-diameter gas pipeline passing under the Bahadur Ali Khoso Bridge in Bhand Sharif Goth and detonated explosives.
Following the blast, gas supply was suspended to Sohbatpur, Fareedabad, Bhand Sharif, Jiani, Daulat Ghari, Hairdin, Chatan Patti, Dargai and other rural and urban localities.
After the explosion, police reached the site, cordoned off the area and started an investigation.
The Baloch Republican Guards (BRG) later claimed responsibility for the attack.
In a statement, BRG spokesperson Dostain Baloch said the group’s fighters had planted explosives near Bahadur Khan Khoso in the Bhand area and destroyed the pipeline.
He said the group would continue such operations until what he described as the “independence of Balochistan”.