QUETTA, Pakistan, Feb 27, (AFP): Gunmen in southwestern Pakistan attacked two trucks carrying supplies to NATO troops in Afghanistan and set them on fire on Sunday, officials said.
The incident took place near the town of Mangocher, 120 kms (75 miles) south of Quetta, the capital of the restive oil and gas-rich Baluchistan province, which borders Iran and Afghanistan.
“Unknown gunmen on motorcycles intercepted two trucks carrying supplies for NATO troops in Afghanistan and set them on fire,” tribal police official Munir Ahmed told AFP.
“Before setting ablaze the trucks, the attackers asked the drivers and helpers to abandon their vehicles,” Ahmed said.
Muhammad Ashraf, another security official in the area, confirmed the attack.
NATO trucks and oil tankers are regularly targets of arson attacks blamed on insurgents attempting to disrupt two key supply lines that cross western Pakistan bound for foreign troops fighting in neighbouring Afghanistan. Most supplies and equipment required by coalition troops in Afghanistan are shipped through Pakistan, although US troops increasingly use alternative routes through central Asia.
Baluchistan is torn by Islamist militancy, sectarian violence between majority Sunnis and minority Shiite Muslims, and a separatist insurgency by rebels seeking political autonomy and a greater share of profits from natural resources.
Earlier on Friday, four NATO tankers gutted by a series of blasts on Friday caught fire again when an unexploded timed device went off Saturday, wounding two people in northwestern Pakistan, police said.
More than two dozen militants had struck a terminal on the outskirts of the northwestern city of Peshawar on Friday and planted devices on 12 out of 18 parked tankers carrying fuel for NATO troops in neighbouring Afghanistan.
Eleven tankers blew up while one remained safe. Militants also shot dead two guards drivers and two drivers who resisted them.
“An unexploded device in one of the 11 burnt tankers went off and triggered fire, which engulfed four tankers,” local police official Imtiaz Shah told AFP. He said that a bomb disposal squad rushed to the site and defused another unexploded timed device.
Another senior police official, Muhammad Ejaz confirmed the incident and said two persons in the terminal sustained minor injuries.
No group has so far claimed responsibility but the Taleban has claimed such attacks in the past. The bulk of supplies and equipment required by foreign troops in Afghanistan are shipped through Pakistan.
Pakistan shut its main northwestern border crossing to NATO supply vehicles for 11 days last September after a cross-border NATO helicopter assault killed two Pakistani soldiers. Taleban and al-Qaeda-linked militants frequently launch attacks across northwestern Pakistan and the lawless tribal belt on the Afghan border, which Washington has branded the most dangerous place in the world.