Taliban torch 16 tankers in Dera Murad Jamali
* Taliban spokesman claims responsibility for attack
* Says attack in retaliation to US drone attacks in Waziristan
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QUETTA: Unidentified gunmen in Dera Murad Jamali set ablaze 16 vehicles carrying fuel supplies for the US and NATO troops stationed in Afghanistan on Saturday.
Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq claimed the responsibility for the assault, which involved eight gunmen, and left a NATO tanker driver wounded. Police, however, refused to speculate on who was behind the attack.
Reportedly, the oil tankers, parked at a petrol pump, some nine kilometres away from Dera Murad Jamali of Naseerabad district, waiting for daybreak, had to leave for Chaman at 4am to enter Afghanistan.
Eyewitnesses said the attackers, riding in a car, shot bullets at the tankers, of which some 16 vehicles caught fire. An official source added that two more tankers parked a distance away were undamaged.
Naseerabad Deputy Commissioner Abdul Fateh Khajak claimed that the gunmen, who were four in number, had come from Dera Allah Yar. He confirmed that 16 tankers were destroyed in the strike at time between 2:30am and 3:00am. He said the convoy had three security guards, but they all ran away.
A NATO oil tanker driver, Muhammad Tahir, who received serious bullet wounds in the attack, was shifted to the Dera Murad Jamali Civil Hospital and later referred to the Chandka Medical College Hospital, Larkana, for better treatment, the deputy commissioner added.
According to eyewitnesses, the attackers were heavily armed and used massive firepower to scare the locals. The ensuing fire within no time engulfed nearby shops and a roadside hotel. Fire brigade, after several hours’ efforts, put out the fire.
“It is in retaliation to drone attacks in tribal areas,” Taliban spokesman Tariq told AFP in a phone call from an undisclosed location in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region. staff report/agencies
QUETTA: Unidentified gunmen in Dera Murad Jamali set ablaze 16 vehicles carrying fuel supplies for the US and NATO troops stationed in Afghanistan on Saturday.
Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq claimed the responsibility for the assault, which involved eight gunmen, and left a NATO tanker driver wounded. Police, however, refused to speculate on who was behind the attack.
Reportedly, the oil tankers, parked at a petrol pump, some nine kilometres away from Dera Murad Jamali of Naseerabad district, waiting for daybreak, had to leave for Chaman at 4am to enter Afghanistan.
Eyewitnesses said the attackers, riding in a car, shot bullets at the tankers, of which some 16 vehicles caught fire. An official source added that two more tankers parked a distance away were undamaged.
Naseerabad Deputy Commissioner Abdul Fateh Khajak claimed that the gunmen, who were four in number, had come from Dera Allah Yar. He confirmed that 16 tankers were destroyed in the strike at time between 2:30am and 3:00am. He said the convoy had three security guards, but they all ran away.
A NATO oil tanker driver, Muhammad Tahir, who received serious bullet wounds in the attack, was shifted to the Dera Murad Jamali Civil Hospital and later referred to the Chandka Medical College Hospital, Larkana, for better treatment, the deputy commissioner added.
According to eyewitnesses, the attackers were heavily armed and used massive firepower to scare the locals. The ensuing fire within no time engulfed nearby shops and a roadside hotel. Fire brigade, after several hours’ efforts, put out the fire.
“It is in retaliation to drone attacks in tribal areas,” Taliban spokesman Tariq told AFP in a phone call from an undisclosed location in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region. staff report/agencies
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