Blogger News Network

Pakistani officials say security forces have attacked a rebel base in the southwestern province of Baluchistan, killing five tribal militants.

Authorities say Pakistani troops backed by helicopter gunships carried out the raid Tuesday on a rebel camp in the district of Dera Bugti.

Officials say Pakistani forces seized a large cache of weapons at the compound and captured seven wounded militants. They say the rebels were planning an attack on a gas field in the area.

A militant tribal chief in Baluchiston condemned the raid, and accused Pakistani troops of killing women and children. Pakistani officials denied the charge.

Separately, Pakistani officials say militants have beheaded an Afghan man and dumped his body in the region of North Waziristan. The body was found today near the town of Miran Shah.

The militants left a note saying they killed the man from Afghanistan's Khost province because he spied for U.S. forces. They warned other spies for the U.S. will suffer the same fate.

Tuesday's army operation in Baluchistan came a day after suspected tribal militants set off a bomb in the provincial capital, Quetta. Five people were killed by the blast.

A rebel group called the Baluchistan Liberation Army has carried out a wave of bombings over the past year in its fight for a greater share of oil and gas resources in the province.