QUETTA, Pakistan (AFP) – Suspected tribal rebels blew up a gas pipeline in Pakistan’s insurgency-hit southwestern province of Baluchistan on Monday, suspending supplies to several areas, officials said.

The pre-dawn blast damaged a main pipeline bringing gas from the Pirkoh field to the Sui purification plant in Dera Bugti district, said security and company officials on condition of anonymity.

No casualties were reported, a gas company official said.

“We have started the repair work and hope to resume supplies late in the evening,” said the official.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Impoverished Baluchistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, has been wracked by an insurgency waged by ethnic Baluch tribes seeking more political rights and a greater share of profits from the region’s natural resources.

Hundreds of people have died in violence ripping through the province since the insurgency flared in late 2004.

The region has also been hit by attacks blamed on Taliban militants.