Taliban raids NATO supplies in Pakistan

8 Dec 2008, 8:53 am   -   Source: AAP
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More than 200 Taliban militants have launched a pre-dawn raid on a NATO terminal in Pakistan, torching 65 trucks containing supplies for troops in Afghanistan, in the first attack of this kind.

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Taliban militants have launched a pre-dawn raid on NATO terminals in Pakistan, torching nearly 200 supply trucks and other vehicles destined for troops in Afghanistan, police said.

About 250 heavily armed militants attacked two major terminals in the north-western city of Peshawar on Sunday, disarming security guards before dousing 89 trucks in petrol and setting them alight.

One guard was killed in the audacious attack, which also destroyed two armoured vehicles, two fire engines, ammunition containers and 89 jeeps meant for international troops in Afghanistan.

Police described the attack, at three locations in the city, as the biggest of its kind.

"This is the first time the militants came in such large numbers," senior police officer Abdul Qadir Qamar told AFP, calling it a "coordinated and well-planned attack".

The insurgents, who had stolen the petrol from a nearby gas station, fled when police arrived, Qamar added.

One security official said they had struck as police were busy investigating Friday's huge bomb blast in Peshawar that killed 34 people and wounded 120 others.

"It was also a weekend and security was relatively relaxed because of Eid vacations," the official said. Pakistan celebrates the Muslim festival of Eid on Tuesday.

The trucks were loaded with supplies bound for Afghanistan, where NATO forces are battling a growing Taliban insurgency.

Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked militants have in the past attacked oil tankers and trucks on their way across from Pakistan to Afghanistan, a major supply route for international troops there.

Sunday's raid came less than a week after the insurgents destroyed a dozen supply trucks in Peshawar, killing two people in the process.

However, a spokesman for the US forces in Afghanistan played down the impact of the attack and said he expected Pakistan's military to increase security.

"We have multiple avenues of supply lines to ensure the troops have what they need," Greg Julian told AFP.

"We are looking at other means for providing security. Beside the two main roads from Quetta to Kandahar and from Peshawar to Jalalabad, we have alternate roads from the North."

Pakistan last month barred delivery of sealed containers and oil tankers through the Khyber Pass for a week after Taliban fighters in the rugged lawless area hijacked 15 trucks destined for Afghanistan and looted the vehicles.

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