Tuesday, March 22 2005 10:16 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Quetta: Rockets ploughed into a Hindu temple killing 18 members of the minority community during clashes between tribal rebels and soldiers in troubled south-western Pakistan, officials said today (Mae 22, 2005).

Five children and three women were among the victims of last Thursday's (Mar 17, 2005) firefights in the flashpoint town of Dera Bugti, said Basant Lal Gulshan, a legislator from the ruling Muslim League party.

Another 30 were injured, Gulshan said. The bodies of 17 were cremated on Saturday (Mar 19, 2005) while a child was buried in line with the Hindu faith, he added.

Full details of the battles have been slow to emerge and it was unclear whether the weapons, which hit a number of homes as well as the temple, were fired by the clansmen or by Pakistani paramilitary forces.

Pakistan Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao said on Saturday that eight security personnel and 21 tribesmen including two Hindu minority members were killed in the battles, while 34 people were injured.

It was not known how many of the 18 Hindus, if any, were included in the toll.

Baluchistan Government spokesman Raziq Bugti also confirmed that 18 Hindus had died on March 17.

Baluchistan has suffered a lengthy, low-level insurgency by tribesmen who want increased political rights and more financial benefits from the province's natural resources.

The violence has intensified this year since the rebels launched a rocket barrage on a major gas plant in revenge for the rape of a female doctor, killing eight people.