Islamabad, Oct 9 (DPA) Suspected Islamist militants torched an oil tanker and six lorries carrying US and NATO supplies in Pakistan’s restive north-west early Friday, police said.
The pre-dawn assault took place at a petrol station and a truckers’ inn on the outskirts of Peshawar city, a key transit point for supplies meant for the Western forces battling the Taliban insurgency in neighbouring Afghanistan.
“Around a dozen men armed with Kalashnikov rifles came to the fuel pump and burned down an oil tanker,” police officer Kifayat Khan said. “Afterwards, they approached the adjacent parking area and set fire to six trucks using petrol bombs,” the officer added.
Militants regularly target trucks loaded with US and NATO supplies in the troubled north-western region, prompting the temporary closure of this crucial supply route.
Nearly 75 percent of the fuel and military supplies for the Western forces are transported into landlocked Afghanistan through the famous Khyber Pass.
