Four die as NATO tankers attacked in Pakistan

Militants in northwest Pakistan blew up at least 11 tankers carrying fuel for NATO troops in neighbouring Afghanistan Friday and shot dead four people, police said. The rebels struck at a terminal on the outskirts of the city of Peshawar, which runs into Pakistan's lawless tribal belt. "More than two dozen militants entered the terminal and planted timed devices on 12 out of a total 18 fuel tankers parked at the terminal," senior police official Imtiaz Shah told AFP. He said 11 tankers were blown up while the device planted on one vehicle did not explode. The militants shot dead two guards and two drivers who resisted them, he said. He said that another six people including five drivers and one of their assistants were hurt. "Those who attacked the terminal were all militants but we don't know yet which group they belong to," Shah said. Another senior police official, Muhammad Ejaz, said the militants fled after the attack. Roman Khan, 25, an assistant, who was admitted to hospital with multiple burn injuries, told AFP that he was asleep in the cabin of one tanker when militants attacked the terminal. "Some of them had covered their faces with masks. They ordered all drivers to get down and began planting some gadgets, which I could not recognize," Khan said, also confirming the militants shot dead two drivers who tried to resist. "They shouted that the tankers were supplying fuel to America, which is our enemy, and warned us to leave the tankers, which are being blown up." An AFP reporter at the scene said the massive fire destroyed the 11 tankers. Empty shells from Kalashnikov rifles and blood could be seen inside the terminal. No group has claimed responsibility but the Taliban has claimed such attacks in the past. The bulk of supplies and equipment required by foreign troops in Afghanistan are shipped through Pakistan. Pakistan shut its main northwestern border-crossing to NATO supply vehicles for 11 days last September after a cross-border NATO helicopter assault killed two Pakistani soldiers. Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants frequently launch attacks across northwestern Pakistan and the lawless tribal belt on the Afghan border, which Washington has branded the most dangerous place in the world. Under US pressure to crack down on Islamist havens on the border, Pakistan has in the past two years stepped up military operations against largely homegrown militants in the tribal regions. Islamabad launched its most ambitious military offensive against Taliban militants in South Waziristan in 2009, expanding the campaign to many of the other seven semi-autonomous tribal districts along the border. Washington says wiping out the militant threat in Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal belt is vital to winning the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan and defeating Al-Qaeda.