'Cluster bombs killed Bugti'

ISLAMABAD: A prominent Baloch leader has accused Pakistan's army of targeting tribal chief Nawab Akbar Bugti with cluster bombs in an aerial raid using helicopter gunships and fighter jets.
Rejecting the Army's claims that Bugti had died because of the collapse of his hideout, which was in a cave, in a "mysterious explosion", Nawabzada Hyrbair Marri claimed that cluster bombs had been used to kill the rebel leader and other tribesmen.
He alleged that armed forces had targeted Bugti and other rebels with helicopter gunships and fighter jets, Dawn reported on Wednesday.
"The story of the cave's collapse is a propaganda ruse of rulers to deceive the people," Marri said and invited the world media to visit the site of the tragic incident and expose the rulers' "lies".
He claimed that Bugti's death was planned and not an accident. Urging the Baloch people to forge unity, he said that people would not give up their armed struggle until the achievement of their goal which is grant of autonomy to the province.
Meanwhile, a four-party Baloch alliance has asked the government to stop military operation in Dera Bugti and Kohlu, hand over the body of Bugti to his heirs and release all arrested political workers.
At joint press conference in Quetta, leaders of the alliance vowed to intensify struggle for rights of Balochs. Hayee Baloch, Sardar Akhtar Mengal and Sardar Sanaullah Zehri also supported the September one strike called by the national opposition parties.