Taliban torch 10 NATO supply trucks
Taliban torch 10 NATO supply trucks
* Alternate route opened in Khyber
* Security camp attacked in Landikotal
By Sajid Ali and Sudhir Ahmad Afridi
JAMRUD/LANDIKOTAL: Army engineers on Wednesday built a temporary alternate route for traffic, including NATO trucks bound for Afghanistan – a day after the Taliban blew up a key bridge in Khyber Agency – as suspected Taliban torched 10 containers they thought were loaded with NATO supplies near Landikotal.
According to an ISPR statement, the army engineers also continued repairing the bridge destroyed by the Taliban in Khyber Agency’s Ali Masjid area.
The collapse of the British-era steel bridge had disrupted the supply of goods via the Peshawar-Torkham route to NATO forces in Afghanistan. The political administration said the bridge would be repaired by Thursday (today) afternoon.
Meanwhile in Landikotal, suspected Taliban doused with petrol 10 containers they thought were carrying NATO supplies, and set them on fire. With most of the containers reportedly empty and only two loaded – four were completely gutted and the remaining were partially damaged.
Camp attacked: The containers were torched as a security camp and bunkers in the mountains nearby came under attack. No casualty has been reported. According to an intelligence official, more than ten rockets, missiles and mortars were fired at the camp and outside the cantonment. AFP, however, reported that 15 rockets had been fired at the camp.
For the next few hours after the attack, the security forces hit the mountains with shells. (Daily Times)