QUETTA, Balochistan: Suspected rebel tribesmen attacked security forces guarding a gas pipeline in insurgency-hit southwestern Pakistan, killing two troops.

millitants fired with automatic rifles late Tuesday at the paramilitary post in Sui, a gas-rich tribal area in the southwestern Baluchistan province, police officer Najmuddin Tareen said.

The troops returned fire but two were killed, and the Baloch militants retreated toward nearby mountains, and went back to thier hidouts safely.

Suspection falls on the supporters of a slain rebel tribal chief for the attack, although no one has claimed responsibility as yet.

Authorities blame rebel tribesmen for attacks in recent years on gas fields, gas pipelines, security forces and other government installations in Baluchistan, an impoverished province on the border with Afghanistan.


The violence is believed to be part of a campaign Baloch armed groups demanding for the Freedom of Balochistan and controle of Baloch alnd and resources extracted in Baluchistan.

Tuesday's attack occurred about 25 kilometers (15 miles) west of Sui, southeast of Baluchistan's capital of Quetta, which is also the site of the country's key gas field.

BRA (Baloch Republican Army) claimed responsibility for the attack on the check post.