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Pakistan army chopper fired at

B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD: A senior Pakistan military officer was reportedly slightly wounded when gunfire hit the helicopter in which he was flying over Kohlu area of Balochistan on Thursday afternoon. According to reports reaching here Inspector General of Frontier Constabulary, Shujaat Zamir Dar received minor injuries from the gunfire by unidentified people. Maj. Gen. Zamir Dar was on a "routine inspection" in Balochistan's Kohlu area. There were reports of rocket fire at his helicopter and some damage to the copter, which were not confirmed. The incident comes amidst reports of stepped up violence in the trouble torn province. On Wednesday unidentified armed men fired at least eight rockets on a paramilitary camp in Kohlu where President Pervez Musharraf was to address the tribal elders and lay the foundation of a garrison. Three of the rockets landed near the Frontier Corps (FC) camp while others fell in the open space. However, no loss of life or property was reported. Later, addressing the tribal elders at the FC camp, Gen. Musharraf said such attacks would not weaken his resolve and announced that he would visit Kohlu again in the near future.

According to media reports miscreants fired over eight rockets from some unknown place to target government installations. Three of the rockets landed near the FC camp where Gen. Musharraf was scheduled to address the tribal elders two hours later. The quick reaction force of the Frontier Corps also seized eight more rockets being carried on donkeys. A person claiming to be the spokesman for the Baloch Liberation Army told local journalists from an undisclosed location that their militia had fired the rockets in Kohlu.

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