Nato convoy attacked in Pakistan

[star123]

At least six people have been killed and seven injured after a Nato convoy was attacked just outside Pakistan's capital, Islamabad.

About 15 fighters fired machine guns and threw grenades before torching the trucks carrying military vehicles for Nato forces in Afghanistan early on Wednesday, Kalim Imam, a police officer, said.

Wednesday's strike - at a truck stop about 10km from Islamabad on the main road leading to the border with Afghanistan - was the first so close to Pakistan's well-protected capital.

Imam said six people were killed and seven wounded, but their identities were not yet known.

He said police were not aware that the truck stop was used by vehicles carrying supplies for Nato and US forces in Afghanistan.

Much of the supplies and fuel for the US-led force in landlocked Afghanistan are transported in trucks through Pakistan after arriving on ships docked at the Arabian Sea port of Karachi.

Thousands of trucks make the journey across the border each week, making it a lucrative business for truckers, but angering Pakistanis opposed to foreign involvement in Afghanistan.

Public execution

Fighters with bases along the remote Afghan border in Pakistan's northwest regularly attack government and security force targets.

On Tuesday, one such group, the Pakistani Taliban, staged a public execution in front of hundreds of tribesmen in North Waziristan, underscoring the level of control armed groups have there.

Pakistani officials say a Taliban-appointed court convicted a man of killing two others.

After the ruling, the Taliban reportedly paraded the man on a football field in Miran Shah before a brother of his alleged victims shot him.

Nato convoy attacked in Pakistan - CENTRAL/S. ASIA - Al Jazeera English

 

[Kompromat]

Rest in peace the dead.

US should move their supplies through Russia , we cant grantee the safety of these supplies anymore.

 

[i am your fear]

Rest in peace the dead.

US should move their supplies through Russia , we cant grantee the safety of these supplies anymore.

the same line you said when they killed your civilian

whats the army is doing

in short you mean u want hands up against Taliban

 

[star123]

Similar attacks happening everyday in pakistan. The important thing is they were able to strike closer 10km from Islamabad.

 

[Avatar]

You are happy when they attack the US but you curse them and want them dead when they attack your own ? What hypocrisy.

 

[Kompromat]

the same line you said when they killed your civilian

whats the army is doing

in short you mean u want hands up against Taliban

A Convoy is vulnerable to such attacks , ofcourse they are not wanted but they have happened and will happen in the future.

So what does it mean?

 

[Spring Onion]

Those killed are Pakistanis and Not Americans or NATO soldiers in this attack.

NATO fuel supplies are attacked often. The routes should not be the populated ones.

 

[Aslan]

I dont understand what these supplies were doing close to Islamabad any ways. Dont the Americans have authorization to go through some airports in Khaibar-Pakhtunkhwah. What the heck!!

 

[Justin Joseph]

Those killed are Pakistanis and Not Americans or NATO soldiers in this attack.

NATO fuel supplies are attacked often. The routes should not be the populated ones.

I don't think US chooses the route, it must be the work of Pakistani establishment to suggest best suitable safe route in their country.

 

[Aslan]

Those killed are Pakistanis and Not Americans or NATO soldiers in this attack.

NATO fuel supplies are attacked often. The routes should not be the populated ones.

Well if it was the fuel then it should have been traveling from the ports up north. The bbc report mentions that it was a convoy carrying equipment for the military.


Gunmen kill seven in attack on Nato convoy in Pakistan

Gunmen have attacked a Nato convoy near the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, killing at least seven people and setting several vehicles on fire.

The overnight assault took place just 10km (six miles) outside the city - the closest such attack to the capital so far.

A dozen militants opened fire, torching 20 parked supply trucks and destroying millions of dollars of army equipment.

The Nato trucks were carrying supplies to alliance troops in Afghanistan.

"The attack took place around 2335 local time (1835 GMT) and we are still trying to find out how this attack has happened," said Shah Nawaz, the head of the police station in Tarnol, where the trucks were parked at a roadside depot.


"The attackers walked into the depot and started indiscriminate firing," he told the Reuters news agency.

Kalim Iman, inspector general of Islamabad police, said that police were searching for the suspected militants, who escaped in two cars and on motorbikes.

In addition to those killed, police said at least four others were injured. The casualties were thought to be the drivers of the trucks and other local people.

Some three-quarters of the supplies needed by the 130,000 US-led international troops in Afghanistan are transported by land from the Pakistan port of Karachi.

It is a brutal reminder to Nato commanders in Afghanistan that their lifeline is vulnerable, says the BBC's Orla Guerin in Islamabad.

Militants are being flushed out of one area by Pakistani military offensives but are surfacing in another, our correspondent adds.

BBC News - Gunmen kill seven in attack on Nato convoy in Pakistan



Also I remember this morning when i was driving to work bbc radio was playing the news clip with some interviews of the drivers, and one of the drivers had mentioned that the attackers were specifically targeting them.

 

[fawwaxs]

ISLAMABAD: Gunmen attacked trucks carrying supplies to Nato forces in Afghanistan, gutting several dozen vehicles in an inferno and killing seven people in a brazen assault near Islamabad, police said Wednesday.

The overnight attack was unprecedented for its proximity to the Pakistani capital, taking place at a depot in Rawalpindi on the road to the northwestern city of Peshawar and towards the main Nato supply route into Afghanistan.

Although militants have routinely attacked supplies for US and Nato-led foreign forces fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, the assault was one of the worst and underlines insecurity on the doorstep of the heavily-guarded capital.

Rows of tankers and trucks were reduced to a twisted mass of metal after the towering inferno at the Tarnol depot was brought under control, including a dozen loaded with military vehicles, television footage showed.

“Seven deaths have been confirmed. Four are injured. There is no information about any arrests,” said police official Gustasab Khan. The casualties were the drivers of the trucks, their helpers or local people, he said.

Police could not give a breakdown on the number of tankers and containers destroyed at the sprawling Tarnol depot, which is also used by local vehicles.

Although there was no immediate claim of responsibility, similar assaults in the past have been blamed on Taliban fighters.

“Unknown attackers opened fire on vehicles parked at Tarnol. Fire erupted in the tankers and trucks, and over a dozen were set ablaze. They were trucks carrying Nato supplies,” said police official Tahir Riaz.

“The vehicles gutted were carrying supplies for Nato forces in Afghanistan,” Naeemullah Khan, an officer at Tarnol police station, told AFP.

In unconfirmed reports, private television channels said dozens of tankers and containers were destroyed in a series of explosions and a towering inferno, although not all necessarily carrying Nato supplies.

Kalim Iman, inspector general of Islamabad police, told reporters that 10 to 12 attackers had stormed the terminal and then managed to escape, but declined to put a precise figure on the losses.

“Fire has destroyed a number of oil tankers and trailors. We are collecting details. The attackers have been identified. They came on motorbikes and pick-up trucks. They were armed,” he said.

“We have launched an investigation. Police are trying to arrest them.”

The bulk of supplies and equipment required by the 130,000 US-led foreign troops across the border are shipped through northwest Pakistan, which has been hard hit by shootings and bomb attacks blamed on militants.

But the heavily protected capital has been largely shielded from attacks blamed on Al-Qaeda and Taliban-linked militant attacks, which have killed more than 3,370 people since July 2007.

The attacks began as retaliation over a government siege on a radical mosque in Islamabad and flared last year as the military fought major campaigns against Taliban in the northwest regions of Swat and South Waziristan.

Washington says Pakistan's northwest tribal belt, which lies outside direct government control, is an Al-Qaeda headquarters and a stronghold for militants plotting attacks on US-led troops fighting against the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Faced with the increasingly deadly and costly conflict between Taliban insurgents and the Kabul government, the United States and Nato allies are boosting their troop numbers to a record 150,000 in Afghanistan by August. —AFP

DAWN.COM | Pakistan | Gunmen torch Nato trucks in Rawalpindi

 

[sparklingway]

I dont understand what these supplies were doing close to Islamabad any ways. Dont the Americans have authorization to go through some airports in Khaibar-Pakhtunkhwah. What the heck!!

Tarnol is a dry port and major transport stop on the N-5 (G T Road). As it is a major dry port as well, hence there are a big truck parks and stops in that area. Every city has such a place. Tarnol happens to be the place for Rawalpindi/Islamabad.

No Americans are in that convoy. NATO supplies arrive by Sea or Air and then are transported by private logistics companies who transport them to Afghanistan.

Rest in peace the dead.

US should move their supplies through Russia , we cant grantee the safety of these supplies anymore.

Tell that to the logistics companies. With the security threat of being attacked when crossing the border and in around the area (both in Pak and Afgh), the companies offer incentives and allowances to the drivers. Many have shied away citing security reasons, but there is a significant population amongst the truckers who fo it for the extra money.

Also, the economic benefit we are reaping (profit for logistics companies, jobs, handling charges at seaport and airport, etc.) have been deemed favourable. ISAF has weighed its options and has chosen to stick with this route.

 

[Spring Onion]

I don't think US chooses the route, it must be the work of Pakistani establishment to suggest best suitable safe route in their country.

Neither am i asking the US.

It isnt the work or duty of establishment. The supplies are contracted to private Cos.

 

[laiqs@mi]

You are happy when they attack the US but you curse them and want them dead when they attack your own ? What hypocrisy.

Its not hypocrisy...
but the situation in pakistan its all because of WOT of america.
if govt of pakistan stop these supplies more of our problem will solve automaticaly.

 

[Forrest Griffin]

Gunmen burn 50 NATO trucks near Islamabad

Unprecedented attack on supply vehicles underscores growing insecurity


Local residents examine burned trucks torched by suspect militants in an attack on early Wednesday, in Sangjani, near Islamabad, Pakistan.

msnbc.com news services
updated 4:39 a.m. ET, Wed., June 9, 2010


ISLAMABAD - Suspected Taliban gunmen in Pakistan set fire to more than 50 trucks carrying supplies for Western forces in Afghanistan, killing at least seven people in the first such attack near the capital, police said on Wednesday.

The damage was widespread and clearly visible, with most of the vehicles appearing to be military-style trucks, NBC News reported from the scene.

The Taliban have previously attacked trucks carrying supplies for U.S.-led foreign forces in Pakistan's volatile northwest and southwest bordering Afghanistan, but this raid, less than 30 minutes' drive from Islamabad late on Tuesday, was unprecedented.

At least 10 gunmen arrived on motorbikes and small pickup trucks at a depot near Tarnol village, killing drivers and workers. The militants escaped, leaving the shells of supply trucks in flames.

"Seven people were killed and more than 50 trucks were set on fire," police official Ghulam Mustafa said. Six people were wounded.

The trucks were due to carry fuel, food and other supplies to Afghanistan. The trucks do not usually carry arms.

Wave of suicide, bomb attacks

The assault underscores growing insecurity in Pakistan where the Taliban have unleashed a wave of suicide and bomb attacks across the country in retaliation for military offensives on their strongholds in the northwest.

Militants allied to the Pakistani Taliban killed more than 80 people in two brazen attacks on Ahmadiyya, a minority religious sect, in the eastern city of Lahore late last month.

But the latest attack comes after months of relative calm around the heavily guarded Pakistan capital and throws into question how safe Islamabad is from attack.

"This is surprising how close to Islamabad a group of so many militants have come, and got away with it," said Talat Masood, a retired general who is now a security analyst. "It shows there are serious security lapses."

The U.S. military sends 75 percent of its supplies for the Afghan war through or over Pakistan, including 40 percent of the fuel for its troops.

The last attack on a convoy was in April when militants torched 12 lorries and killed four policemen in Punjab province.

Hunt for alternative routes

The attacks, especially in the northwestern Khyber tribal region, have forced NATO to look for alternative routes, including through Central Asia.

Six security personnel were killed late on Tuesday in an attack by militants in the northwestern Orakzai tribal region. The army killed 30 militants in a counter offensive, a spokesman for the paramilitary frontier corps said.

Another six militants and two soldiers were killed in clashes in the Mohmand tribal region near the Afghan border late on Tuesday.

Gunmen burn 50 NATO trucks near Islamabad - Pakistan - msnbc.com

---------- Post added at 01:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:42 PM ----------


Pakistani trucks owners and drivers gather near the burnt out wreckages of NATO supply trucks, used to carry military vehicles and fuel, following an attack on the outskirts of Islamabad on June 9, 2010. Gunmen attacked trucks carrying supplies to NATO forces in Afghanistan, gutting several dozen vehicles in an inferno and killing seven people in a brazen assault near Islamabad, police said. The overnight attack was unprecedented for its proximity to the Pakistani capital, taking place at a depot on the outskirts of Islamabad on the road to the northwestern city of Peshawar and towards the main NATO supply route into Afghanistan.
6:19 a.m. ET, 6/9/10
AAMIR QURESHI / AFP/Getty Images



A Pakistani woman parliamentarian walks past media as she arrives at the National Assembly for the presentation of the state budget in Islamabad on June 5, 2010. The Pakistani government presented a deficit budget in parliament June 5 aimed at giving relief to the poor, but hiking defence spending. The budget for the 2010-2011 fiscal year, starting July 1, comes as pressure on Pakistan mounts to open up a new front against Taliban militants in its northwestern tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.
11:34 a.m. ET, 6/5/10