110-year-old bridge in Pakistan falls prey to 'war on terror'

Supplies to the Nato troops in Afghanistan were halted temporarily when militants blew up a 110-year-old bridge on the Pak-Afghan Highway in Katakashta area of the Khyber Agency in the wee hours of Tuesday.

Sources said explosives were planted beneath the bridge that went off early in the day, damaging the bridge partially. However, the structure collapsed later in the day when the driver of a cement-laden truck tried to cross it, the sources added.

The cleaner and driver of the truck saved their lives by jumping out of the vehicle.Long queues of vehicles were seen on both sides of the collapsed bridge as the highway is the main route between Pakistan and Afghanistan via Torkham.

Hundreds of trucks, carrying commodities and fuel to Afghanistan, were stranded, while passengers of the stuck-up public transport, including women and children, were seen travelling on foot to reach their destinations. However, the political administration promptly made alternative arrangements to restore the vehicular traffic.

Muhammad Tariq Hayat Khan, political agent of the Khyber Agency, along with other officials, including deputy director National Highway Authority (NHA) Shad Muhammad Khan visited the spot.

The political administration, while terming the incident an act of sabotage, decided to serve notices on Jhandakhel tribesmen under the collective responsibility section of the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) to hand over those involved in the incident to the government. The officials said action would be taken against the entire tribe if Jhandakhel elders failed to fix the responsibility.