US, Nato supplies under attack in Pakistan

Javed Aziz Khan PESHAWAR: As many as 171 vehicles and containers of the US-led Nato forces including 62 armoured personnel carriers (APCs) were torched by armed attackers in two parking bays on Ring Road in the vicinity of Pishtakhara early Sunday morning. Around 130 vehicles were completely destroyed in the attack while 40 others were partially damaged. Police officials could only confirm setting on fire 62 Humvees, saying a few other vehicles were also damaged in the attack. The attack is the biggest ever on Nato logistics in Pakistan during which a watchman was killed while two others were injured when they offered resistance to over 300 attackers, who were armed with rocket launchers, hand grenades, petrol bombs and AK-47 rifles. Police encountered the attackers at some points when they were fleeing. There were reports that three of them were held, but nobody confirmed it. A worker at the Port World Logistics on Ring Road near Pishtakhara said 106 vehicles were parked in their parking lot, including trucks, Humvees (an APC-like vehicle being used by the American Army), cranes, fire brigade trucks and jeeps. It was learnt that over 60 other vehicles were parked at the Alfaisal Terminal, located across the Ring Road. Recalling the pre-dawn incident, a worker of the Port World Terminal said that over 300 armed men fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the main gate of the parking lot and after breaking-in opened indiscriminate fire on watchmen, killing one on the spot and injuring two others. He added that the attackers later fired rockets at the parked vehicles, hurled petrol bombs and put fuel on the lories to set them ablaze. Firing of rocket launchers and automatic weapons that started at around 3:15 am continued for almost 45 minutes. Eyewitnesses disclosed that the attackers were so relaxed that they continued firing and setting the vehicles on fire without any fear of police or other law-enforcers. Hundreds of villagers in the nearby areas came out of their houses in panic after hearing loud bangs. “I thought for a moment that Peshawar has been attacked by any militia to take it over,” Ali Rahman, a villager of Landi Akhun Ahmad told. He said they could hear the blasts in short intervals for long time. The fire that erupted in the terminals could be extinguished at around 8 am. But before that all the vehicles and the goods inside were reduced to ashes. The attack is second in the past week after a similar attack on December 1 during which two drivers were killed while 15 Nato trucks were set on fire. Also, the Nato trucks were attacked by militants while traveling to Afghanistan via Khyber Agency. Militants had snatched 18 Nato vehicles including Humvees in that incident. A Humvee is now being used by a newly emerged leader of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Hakimullah Mahsud. The TTP had warned of attacking Nato supplies through Pakistan if American did not stop missile attacks in tribal areas and parts of Frontier. Since then, Nato trucks were attacked twice on Ring Road, hardly two kilometers from the Peshawar cantonment. -------