NATO Tanker Torched in Pakistan

NATO supply lines attacked in Pakistan. The bombing of NATO trucks carrying fuel and equipment to the occupation forces inside the country and in Afghanistan has become more common as the war escalates under the Obama administration., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

NATO tanker torched in Pakistan

Sat Apr 2, 2011 11:48PM
presstv.ir

People walk past a burning Afghanistan-bound NATO oil tanker after it was attacked by militants in Peshawar, Pakistan on March 3, 2011.

A group of unidentified armed men have attacked a NATO supply vehicle transporting fuel destined for US-led forces in Afghanistan and set them on fire in Pakistan's Baluchistan province.

The gunmen opened fire on a tanker in Khuzdar district, located 360 kilometers (223 miles) south of the provincial capital of Quetta, as it was traveling from the southern port city of Karachi to the Chaman border crossing on the frontier with neighboring Afghanistan.

The driver and his assistant were injured in the shootout, a Press TV correspondent reported on Saturday.

The assailants later fled the scene. Their whereabouts are unknown.

Police cordoned off the area after the incident and launched a search operation to arrest the perpetrators.

Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan militants regularly attack NATO convoys in Pakistan.

The US military and NATO rely heavily on the Pakistani supply route into landlocked Afghanistan.

Militants have staged violent attacks in recent months, torching hundreds of NATO vehicles and containers destined for foreign troops in Afghanistan.

In response, the Pakistani authorities have deployed large contingents of police and military forces on all major arteries in the area to curb the attacks.

Other routes, largely through Russia and the Central Asian states, have proved too costly, both politically and economically.