Agence France Presse

Quetta, June 20:

An explosion and a pre-dawn rocket attack destroyed an airport in the remote gas rich town of Sui in southwestern Pakistan today, police and security officials said. A security official said the assailants apparently planted dynamite sticks around the wall of the small two-room facility which collapsed when the device exploded during the rocket barrage. The paramilitary Frontier Corps soldiers responded but there were no casualties, the official speaking on condition of anonymity said.

Local police officer Khan Mohammad Buzdar said the airport building and its departure lounge was badly destroyed, but there was no damage to its runway. "Over 20 rockets crashed into airport building," Buzdar told AFP by telephone from Sui, 480 km southeast of the Baluchistan provincial capital Quetta. He said the attackers lobbed rockets and also opened fire with kalashnikov assault rifles and machine guns. No arrests have been reported, he said. The early morning attack was the second in the area within two days. Unidentified assailants fired more than a dozen rockets on Friday but the main gas installations facilities escaped damage.