Pakistan

50 oil tankers, trucks torched

Umer Nangiana June 09, 2010

ISLAMABAD: In a brazen attack, unknown gunmen set on fire 50 oil tankers and trucks parked in Tarnol on the outskirts of Islamabad by lobbing petrol bombs and opening indiscriminate fire, which also left at least seven people dead on Tuesday night.

At around 11 pm, the assailants launched this first-of-its kind assault near the federal capital on a fleet of tankers and trucks which transport fuel and military hardware to Nato forces stationed in Afghanistan.

The blaze engulfing the fleet was so intense that 50 tankers and trucks were completely gutted in spite of the brave fire-fighting effort mounted by rescuers.

The attackers fled the scene. Among the injured, two received bullet wounds while two others suffered burn injuries. A fifth injured is suspected to be a member of the gang who attacked the fleet.

Naeemullah, a police official at Tarnol police station told The Express that police had thrown a security blanket around the area. According to our monitoring desk, the incident occurred near Sangjani Toll Plaza.

The police force was not ready to respond to the situation, a source told The Express Tribune. Senior police officials leading a police force reached the spot only after the gunmen had fled the scene, the source added.

Taking advantage of the situation, the gunmen torched maximum number of vehicles before fleeing the scene. It is the first incident of its kind in the federal capital. Earlier, such incidents used to take place mostly in areas near the Pak-Afghan border.

According to police sources, some 10-15 gunmen riding motorcycles and a car attacked the fleet. Fire and rescue teams of the Capital Development Authority reached the spot after the police declared the area clear. However, the fire-fighters were struggling to contain the blaze till late at night.

Among the injured were two truck drivers who had been shifted to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) for treatment. The incident spread terror through the locality.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik directed the IG Islamabad police to inspect the site and take strict action against the terrorists involved in the attack.

DIG Binyameen said that the sound of blasts was heard far and wide which was emanating from the scene of the attack. Till filing of this report, the containers unaffected by the fire were being pulled out.

Many vehicles parked on containers were also aflame and efforts were on to rescue them. One report said that the trucks were moving from Tarnol to Peshawar and were intercepted by the assailants.

A late-night operation resulted in the impounding of two vehicles filled with ammunition. Some 26 suspects were also taken into custody.

Published in the Express Tribune, June 9th, 2010.

COMMENTS (14)

Umayr Masud | 14 years ago | Reply @Muz , dear sir.. the people who died (8 to be exact) were neither American nor Nato forces, it is absolutely amazing how easily you just wrote them off. Plus the attack took place in our country let us be civil at least and have feelings about it.

Sutre | 14 years ago | Reply So, lets get this straight. You own a truck in Pak, you deliver whatever makes a dollar, right? Why do these drivers not carry guns? I dont care what the law is, as the law will not protect you, especially in a country like yours... we have a saying here, "It is better to be judged by 12 (a jury) than to be carried by 6 (in a coffin)" I fail to see why the government does no round up and execute or at least criple these Nazis... They are a threat to anyone with an even slightly different opinion than theirs. If I lived there, I'd do some cleaning up.

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ascon | 14 years ago | Reply @hammad . what about innocent people dying in s.w and n.w and afghanistan, are they not humans.

Hamood | 14 years ago | Reply Terrorism will continue in Pakistan and innocent people will keep on dying until there are terrorist supporters in Pakistan, just like some of the posters above.

Muz | 14 years ago | Reply @ above posters... Where is terrorism in this event? Supply of an invading army has been attacked which had nothing to do with us Pakistanis at all...

Sultan Ahmed | 14 years ago | Reply Since war on terror in Afghanistan has started, as have seen, essential commodities of daily use specially eatables are going to disappear from the Pakistani Market and their prices are going to sky high beyond poor people's approach. Now i come to the conclusion that Pakistan is main supplier of above-noted items to the Nato forces stationed in Afghanistan fighting against Talban and Alqaeda called insurgents. Unfortunately,set on fire the vehicles carrying rations and other essentials, in fact, they are cut off supply line to the foreign forces in Afghanistan,It is a option they have adopted to win the war against America. When I consider the situation i compelled to think where this incident has ensued, near Islamabad,capital of Pakistan it is not too unsafe,on the other hand predator drone air craft are fail on supervising the situation, what doing there Nato forces armed with every kind of weapons including spy instruments war activities on ground,in fact they are failed in their mission circumstances are whispering very short time ahead they will go. Existing circumstances insist they change the rout adopt safer way leading to the hungry soldiers waiting the ration has been set on fire in the way,they should also request to other countries for ration, Pakistan is already facing dwindle economic crisis,

Nina | 14 years ago | Reply How can anyone refer to such acts as terrorism? These people are justified in attacking the equipment/installation of our foreign terrorist occupiers, as such stuff is used in killing our Muslim brothers in Afghan and Pak.

Yasir Qadeer | 14 years ago | Reply Such attacks define the extent terrorists can go too. They killed innocent men in their quest to claim nobility. These trucks belonged to people who made a living out of them. Who is going to make up for their loss? Is this going to please their God?

Taimur | 14 years ago | Reply Arm twisting politics i would say .... :)

ali hamdani | 14 years ago | Reply @asif khan. Would agree completely with you. Failure of connection between local and intelligence agencies. These are 50 tankers we are talking about. Terrorist have once again struck us and the intelligence has failed yet another time.

Umayr Masud | 14 years ago | Reply M. Asif Khan sb, maybe it was the other way around. A complete success.

Shahid | 14 years ago | Reply This is all part of a drama. We know well who does not want a stable Afghanistan. This incident is part of the infamous policy of "Strategic Depth" in Afghanistan.

Zainab Ali | 14 years ago | Reply Once again the terrorists have left their mark; the authorities should have responded earlier so that the culprits could have been arrested.

M. Asif Khan | 14 years ago | Reply It is total failure of intelligence. How come so many armed persons riding motorcycles and cars were not noticed. They definitely assembled at one place and plan the action. It was not a random act of terrorism. I can only pray that our intelligence agencies should play the role more effectively, so as to avoid such kind of situation.

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