NATO oil tankers torched in Quetta, Pakistan

NATO oil tankers torched in Quetta, Pakistan

At least 42 NATO oil tankers and containers were torched after armed men fired two rockets at them in the Kharotabad area of Quetta on Thursday, December 08, 2011.

As many as 32 oil tankers and 10 containers, carrying fuel and military hardware for NATO forces in Afghanistan, were parked in a terminal on Airport Road when a group of armed men fired two rockets, followed by intense firing.

Initially a few oil tankers caught fire that eventually engulfed nearby oil tankers and containers too.

“At least 32 oil tankers and 10 containers carrying necessary supply for NATO forces were destroyed in the attack,” Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Mehbob Ehsan said.

According to reports, the armed men managed to flee from the scene after carrying out the attack.

No human losses have been reported yet. An official said no one was hurt in the attack; however the situation would be clear once the fire was brought under control.

According to the owner of the terminal, Nadir Khan, a group of armed men appeared on motorcycles and fired two rockets at the oil tankers.

“We have deployed private armed guards to provide security cover to the oil tankers and containers,” Khan told journalists.

There were no security forces and police present when the attack took place.

A heavy contingent of police and security forces had cordoned off the area after the incident and over a dozen fire tenders were engaged in extinguishing the fire.

According to official sources, as many as 119 oil tankers and 111 containers carrying fuel and military hardware for Nato forces are parked in different terminals of Quetta for the past 13 days since Pakistan suspended the supply.

There are hundreds of mud houses situated in Kharotabad, where mostly Afghan refugees have taken shelter.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack but the Taliban have in the past said they carried out similar attacks to disrupt supplies for more than 130,000 US-led international troops fighting in Afghanistan.

Taliban and al Qaeda-linked militants frequently launch attacks on NATO supply vehicles in the northwest and southwest regions of Pakistan, which border landlocked Afghanistan.

Most supplies and equipment required by foreign forces in Afghanistan are usually shipped through Pakistan, although US troops increasingly use alternative routes through Central Asia.

Nato has launched an investigation into the raid last month in which 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed.

The lethal November 26 air strike has brought the fragile Pakistani-US alliance to a fresh low.

Pakistan sealed its Afghan border to NATO supply convoys, boycotted this week’s Bonn conference on the future of Afghanistan and ordered US personnel to vacate an air base reportedly used by CIA drones.

Earlier, Pakistan had shut its main northwestern border crossing to Nato supply vehicles for 11 days last year after a cross-border Nato helicopter assault killed two Pakistani soldiers.

Scores of NATO supply vehicles were destroyed in gun and arson attacks while that crossing was shut, as Taliban militants stepped up efforts to disrupt the route in response to US drone strikes in Pakistan’s tribal belt.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=5752

Posted by Ammar Ahmad on Dec 8 2011. Filed under Latest News, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry