NATO oil tankers attack case: ATC sentences three to death

Convicts were found guilty of killing four cops, torching vehicles.

RAWALPINDI: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Tuesday sentenced to death three accused in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) oil tankers attack case. The accused, Ali Imran, Shujahud Din and Azizur Rehman, were given capital punishment eight times each for torching 11 Nato oil tankers and killing four police officials in Chakwal District on April 24, 2010.

ATC Special judge Muhammad Ayub Marth gave the verdict of after charges against the accused were proven by the prosecution. Besides setting the oil tankers on fire, the terrorists also shot dead four police personnel including a sub-inspector when they responded to the attack.

According to details, some 12 terrorists equipped with sophisticated weapons onboard a Toyota Vigo stormed into Ahsan gas station in Akwal village, in the limits of Saddar police station in Talagang and opened indiscriminate fire before setting the tankers ablaze. A police mobile van which responded to the attack was also targeted. SI Muhammad Iqbal and constables Iqbal Haider, Muhammad Farooq and Ghulam Farid were killed in the exchange of fire, in which many passersby were also injured. After the attack, the suspects had fled from the scene.

The same terrorists attacked a police check-post in Dhoke Pathan in 2011. However, Inspector Syed Azhar Hussain Shah succeeded in nabbing them in Jhatla village, Dina along with weapons and ammunition. During investigation, they confessed to attacking the Nato oil tankers and killing four policemen in Talagang.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1^st, 2015.