An explosion struck a major natural gas pipeline in southern Pakistan, disrupting supply amid a deepening energy crisis caused by the US-Israeli war on Iran.

The main supply line of the Sui Southern Gas Company near Quetta, the capital of the restive Balochistan province bordering Afghanistan and Iran, was attacked on Monday by “unknown individuals”, a company spokesperson said, adding that a section of the 18-inch pipeline was blown up.

Technical crews were immediately dispatched to the site and managed to shut the main valve and extinguish the fire, the company said. However, gas supply was disrupted in many parts of Quetta and upper Balochistan during cold weather conditions, when households relied heavily on gas for heating and cooking.

Police said they had launched an investigation and sealed off the area.

The company said it required clearance from law enforcement agencies before starting repair work, which was expected to take between 12 and 24 hours.

A video circulated online showed a raging fireball rising into the sky in a mountainous area through which the pipeline reportedly ran. The Independent could not confirm the authenticity of the video.

The explosion is suspected to be a terrorist attack in a region with a long history of separatist insurgency and militant violence.

Baloch separatist groups routinely attack government and military installations in the region. They accuse the central government in Islamabad of depriving the local people of what they claim is their fair share of the mineral-rich province’s resources.

In 2014, the Baloch Liberation Army claimed responsibility for an attack on the Sui Southern Gas Company pipeline in the Akhtarabad area of Quetta. The ethnonationalist insurgent group seeks independence for Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province.

In August 2025, a similar attack blew up a gas pipeline in Lakki Marwat district in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, disrupting supply to Punjab’s Mianwali region.