Taliban kill truck driver for supplying cattle to Afghanistan

Militants kill driver and helper to punish supplying cattle to neighbouring Afghanistan.

PESHAWAR: Militants in the tribal region on Thursday killed a truck driver and his helper to punish them for supplying cattle to neighbouring Afghanistan, officials said.

Around 20 insurgents armed with automatic weapons opened fire on three trucks soon after they entered the Baizai district of Mohmand Agency after dropping supplies across the border in east Afghanistan, local administration official Maqsood Hasan told AFP.

“They killed the driver and helper of the lead truck while occupants of the two other trucks fled,” he said.

Later the attackers torched all three vehicles for violating a ban they have imposed in the area on trucking goods to Afghanistan, he said.

The incident was confirmed by a security official in the area where the army is engaged in anti-insurgent operations. In a similar deadly incident on Wednesday militants killed a truck driver and his helper for supplying livestock to Afghanistan. Some cattle traders prefer smuggling cattle across the border, where they can fetch better prices. 

Published in The Express Tribune, April 22^nd, 2011.