War supplies: NATO driver killed in sixth attack this year

Unknown militant faction claims responsibility.

JAMRUD:

A container supplying goods to North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) troops stationed in Afghanistan came under attack when its driver was shot dead in Teddy Bazaar of Jamrud tehsil, Khyber Agency on Sunday.

The vehicle had offloaded supplies in Afghanistan and was on its way back when two armed, masked men stepped out from a narrow street and sprayed the driver’s side with bullets, said Asmatullah Wazir, a political administration officer.

The official added a khasadar official deployed at the bazaar informed them of the incident at 11am. When they reached the spot, they saw the bullet-riddled vehicle abandoned in the middle of the road with the driver lying dead nearby.

“We parked the empty container at the roadside and shifted the body to the Jamrud Civil Hospital”. The deceased, identified as Zarwali Khan, was an Afghan citizen.

After the incident, khasadars surrounded the area and launched a search operation, arresting 17 people. The suspects were shifted to the political administration office for investigations while security was tightened on routes to and from the tehsil.

Meanwhile, a man who identified himself as Abu Hamza and cited his association with an unknown militant group, called reporters and took responsibility for the attack.

The political administration official, however, termed Hamza’s claim ‘baseless’. “The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan is attacking the Nato containers, no one else was involved,” Wazir said.

In July 2012, Nato traffic was temporarily suspended after gunmen attacked trucks, killing a driver in Jamrud. Islamabad also imposed a seven-month blockade on overland Nato traffic after US air strikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November 2011.

This was the sixth attack on Nato vehicles in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa since the beginning of this year.

Timeline of casualties in attacks since Nato resumed

June 24, 2012:

Nato driver killed and another worker injured, suspending supplies once again.

November 20, 2012:

Two gunmen on a motorcycle fire at a Nato truck, killing its driver and injuring an assistant

December 23, 2012:

A Pakistani driver and cleaner were killed in Nangarhar province of Afghanistan

April 14, 2013:

A driver of a Nato vehicle killed in Jamrud when the container was on its way back from Afghanistan

March 23, 2013:

A driver killed and two others injured when a convoy of 10 Nato oil tankers came under attack in Wazir Dandh, Jamrud tehsil.

February 19, 2013:

Two drivers killed and a man injured when unidentified militants opened fire at Nato vehicles in Landikotal.

February 18, 2013:

Gunmen attack a convoy of vehicles carrying military equipment for Nato, killing the driver and his helper.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 15^th, 2013.