Suspected separatist militants in Pakistan fired eight rockets at a paramilitary base in a troubled southwestern province yesterday as President Pervez Musharraf was visiting a nearby town, police said. No one was hurt in the attack on the Frontier Corps base on the outskirts of Kohlu in Baluchistan province, they said.

A man who identified himself as Mirak Baluch and said he was a spokesman for the Baluch Liberation Army (BLA), telephoned a Press club in Quetta, the provincial capital, and said his group was responsible for the attack and would launch more.

"We fired the rockets," a journalist at the Press club quoted Baluch as saying.

"We Baluchis are being treated like slaves. We are at war with the general and we will continue such attacks," he quoted the caller as saying, referring to Musharraf.

Musharraf's spokesman was not available for comment but Kohlu police official Mohammad Qasim said the president was in the town addressing tribal leaders when the rockets were fired.

Nationalists in the resource-rich but restless province demand more control over natural gas and minerals, which, they say, bring few benefits to its people.

The BLA is seeking a separate state. Militants often launch small attacks on gas, electricity and transport infrastructure in the province, as well as on security force posts but casualties are rare.

PHOTO CAPTION

Eight rockets slammed into a remote town in southwest Pakistan, coinciding with a visit of President Pervez Musharraf to the region which is troubled by a sporadic tribal insurgency. (AFP)