Gunmen torch Nato withdrawal trucks in Balochistan

Gunmen first fired on the first vehicle and then sprinkled petrol on all four trucks.


Afp April 01, 2013
Five Nato trucks were carrying Nato equipment back when they were attacked. PHOTO: FILE

QUETTA: Five trucks carrying Nato equipment out of Afghanistan were set ablaze by gunmen near Quetta on Monday, as the international military alliance winds down its combat mission there, officials said.

Four masked gunmen on two motorbikes opened fire at the vehicles, forcing them to stop and then doused them in petrol to set them on fire in Balochistan.

"Five Nato trucks were carrying Nato equipment back. Gunmen first fired on the first vehicle and then sprinkled petrol on all of them," Iftikhar Bugti, a senior government official told AFP by telephone.

The incident happened in Bolan district, around 120 kilometres (75 miles) southeast of Quetta, the provincial capital.

"All five trucks have been almost completely destroyed," Bugti said. One driver was slightly injured in the attack, he added.

Syed Waheed Shah, another government official in Bolan, confirmed the attack.

Military officials said Sunday it would cost the United States $5-6 billion to remove military hardware and vehicles from Afghanistan, where Nato is ending its combat mission by the end of next year.

Brigadier General Steven Shapiro described it as "one of the most challenging military transportation operations in history in terms of scale and complexity".

Most of the hardware will be flown out of land-locked Afghanistan or taken by road to Pakistan's port of Karachi, despite complications with the route.

Pakistan in July 2012 temporarily stopped Nato traffic after gunmen attacked Nato trucks, killing a driver, in the northwestern border town of Jamrud.

Islamabad also imposed a seven-month blockade on overland Nato traffic after US air strikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November 2011.

COMMENTS (2)

Sultan Ahmed | 11 years ago | Reply

It is opened to all date has been set to withdrawal but total recall from the land locked country Afghanistan is impossible to some extend .

American interests are still stand there,United States armed forces and allied troops can take more time in patriation. First they need a stoog in place of Karzai, second,they understand it essential to supervise Iranian capability in manufacturing nuclear arms and increasing chines influence in the region.

they are stationed in Afghanistan more than a decade inspite of it work is not complete they have to complete it so they can take more time in total withdreawal.

Sultan Ahmed | 11 years ago | Reply

Feedom fighters understand such acts a part of war against foreign aggressors.

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