Taliban Bomb Attack Destroys 22 NATO Supply Trucks

Pro-US Afghanistan puppet military forces stand next to burned-out fuel tankers that were liberated and destroyed by the resistance fighters struggling to oust the American and NATO occupation forces from their country. Attacks occur everyday., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Taliban bomb attack destroys 22 NATO supply trucks

* Nine Afghan soldiers killed in Taliban attack on an army post

* Afghan Taliban threaten to kill judges, prosecutors

KABUL/KANDAHAR/ MAZAR-E-SHARIF

A Taliban bomb attack on Wednesday destroyed 22 fuel tankers carrying supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan, local officials said, as 12 Afghan soldiers and two NATO troops died in escalating insurgent attacks.

A pre-dawn explosion triggered a fire that engulfed the trucks, parked in the northern province of Samangan overnight on their way from Uzbekistan towards NATO forces in the south, Samangan deputy governor Ghulam Sakhi Baghlani said.

"The first explosion resulted in a fire which quickly engulfed as many 22 trucks," he said, adding that three drivers were also injured in the blaze.

A spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said initial reports showed 24 tankers were destroyed after an improvised bomb attack.

But he said he could not immediately confirm that the civilian tankers were carrying fuel for ISAF, which relies on contractors to move many of its supplies.

Separately, police in neighbouring Baghlan province said they had detained 10 suspected Taliban with so-called magnetic bombs, which they were trying to attach to supply trucks.

Also on Wednesday, in southern Afghanistan, nine Afghan soldiers were killed in an attack by Taliban on an army post, officials said. Militants armed with heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled-grenades stormed the army post in Washir district of Helmand province late on Tuesday, sparking a fierce firefight lasting more than an hour, they said. Seven Taliban were also killed, provincial spokesman Daud Ahmadi told AFP.

And in Logar province south of Kabul, three ANA soldiers were killed and three others wounded Wednesday when a suicide bomber drove his vehicle into an army base in Baraki Barak district, a senior provincial ANA commander said.

Moreover, two US-led coalition troops were injured in a helicopter crash in western Afghanistan. The cause of the incident was under investigation, the coalition said.

Meanwhile, the Afghan Taliban threatened to kill the judges and prosecutors who sentenced an Afghan soldier to death for killing five French troops this year.

Abdul Sabor was sentenced to hang by a military court for turning his weapon on his French colleagues – in a "green-on-blue" attack at their base in Kapisa province in January.

On the other hand, British Prime Minister David Cameron arrived in Afghanistan on Wednesday, Afghan officials said. "He met with provincial officials, including the police chief and acting governor," the provincial police spokesman said. They discussed the transition of security responsibilities as Britain, and its NATO allies, prepare to withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of 2014, he said.

Also, Afghan President Hamid Karzai admitted his Western-backed administration was unable to deliver justice to the people, despite decade-long international efforts to rebuild the war-torn nation.

"No doubt there has been lots of progress in governance, in delivering service to the people. The government, the parliament and the courts have better capabilities compared to 10 years ago," Karzai said in a speech as he inaugurated an association of Afghan women judges.

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