Pakistani firemen try to extinguish the blaze on the still smoldering oil trucks in Shikarpur, southern Pakistan on Friday. Police in Pakistan say militants have destroyed more than two dozen tanker trucks carrying fuel for NATO forces in Afghanistan.
A group of about 10 suspected militants with their faces covered attacked the convoy as it passed through Sindh province just before dawn, police said.
They opened fire to scare off the drivers before setting fire to 27 vehicles. No one was wounded or injured, said police officer Abdul Hamid Khoso.
The attack in southern Pakistan comes a day after the Pakistani government shut the Torkham border in the northwest in apparent protest after a NATO helicopter killed three of its soldiers on the border.
NATO has not commented on the attack on the supply vehicles but The Associated Press reported the tankers were likely headed to a crossing in southwest Pakistan that was not closed. It was not clear if the vehicles had been rerouted because of the closure of the other crossing.
About 80 per cent of the fuel, spare parts, clothing and other non-lethal supplies for foreign forces in landlocked Afghanistan travel through Pakistan after arriving in the southern Arabian sea port of Karachi. The alliance has other supply routes to Afghanistan, but the Pakistani ones are the cheapest and most convenient.
Coalition officials have said most convoys that travel through Pakistan pass through the country without issue, and that attacks on supply vehicles do not affect operations in Afghanistan.
Some of the strikes are believed to be the work of criminals. Media reports have alleged that truck owners may be behind some of them, perhaps to fraudulently claim insurance.
Attacks in south rare
Pakistani security forces provide guards for the trucks and tankers in the northwest, but generally do not do so in south and central Pakistan, where attacks are rare. Pakistani security officials had warned after two alleged NATO helicopter incursions last weekend that they would stop providing protection to NATO convoys if it happened again.
"Pakistan plays an essential role in the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, both as a supply route and as a political ally," CBC's Carolyn Dunn reported from Afghanistan. "But it's very sensitive about the war in Afghanistan spilling over into its territory."
Friday's attack and the decision to close the border have underscored the increasingly uneasy relations.
Pakistan said two NATO choppers fired on one of its border posts in the northwest's Kurram tribal region, killing three Pakistani soldiers Thursday. NATO said its helicopters entered Pakistani airspace and hit a target only after receiving ground fire. The alliance expressed condolences to the families of the soldiers and said both nations would investigate the incident.
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar