Separatist rebels from Balochistan have blown up three gas pipelines, cutting supplies to millions of households in Pakistan's Punjab Province.



The head of state-owned Sui Northern Gas, Arif Hameed, said on February 10 that the pipelines will take at least two days to fix.



Punjab is Pakistan's most populous and wealthy province and the power base of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.



Most of the province is now without gas.



A spokesman for the banned Baluch Republican Army, Sarbaz Baloch, claimed responsibility.



He said the attack was in response to the discovery earlier of the dead bodies of Baloch activists.



The group accuses the federal government of looting the province's mineral resources and leaving its people to live in poverty.



Human rights groups have accused both Baloch rebels and government security forces of serious human rights abuses.



Based on reporting by AP and Reuters