Tribal militants fired more than 100 rockets into a town near Pakistan?s largest gas field in the troubled province of Baluchistan, killing eight people, officials said yesterday.

The rockets hit the town of Sui late Saturday, damaging 16 houses. Police said two military guards and six civilians were killed in the attack, which followed a similar rocket blitz on Friday and early Saturday around the nearby town of Dera Bugti.

The area?s senior government administrator, Abdul Samad Lasi, said said nine people were wounded in the attack on Sui, which he blamed on ?miscreants?, a term officials use to describe Baluch militants battling for autonomy. Officials said the death toll could rise as a search for bodies was continuing.

Sui is the site of Pakistan?s main gas field and is about 720 km southwest of the capital Islamabad. Lasi said the militants also blew up a section of gas pipeline and a water pipeline in a gas field in Dera Bugti overnight, while a landmine blast yesterday killed one civilian in Kohlu.

Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said security forces were currently limiting their activity to defensive action but warned that ?this strategy can be changed for the protection of gas installation and population?. ?Attacks on national installations cannot be tolerated,? he said in an interview on private Geo TV.

Baluch militants have been waging a low-key insurgency for decades seeking more autonomy and benefits from the oil and gas. They have intensified attacks in the past year. The latest violence came after President Pervez Musharraf on Friday demanded that their tribal leaders disband their ?private militias?.

The military launched a major crackdown on militants in Baluchistan after a rocket attack on Dec. 14 during a visit by Musharraf to Kohlu. The crackdown coincided with the announcement of plans to privatise two gas distribution firms in Baluchistan.