Rebels hit NATO fuel tankers killing policeman in eastern Afghanistan

A group of insurgents stormed a terminal near a NATO base in the border town of Torkham in eastern Nangarhar province, killing a policeman on Wednesday, officials said. The spokesman for Nangarhar province, Ahmad Zia Abdulzai said that the attack took place at the NATO outpost near the Torkham border crossing, a key supply route for the alliance. He added that three suicide bombers first blew up a car at the gate of the parking lot of the NATO terminal. The explosion set off a fire that destroyed several privately owned tankers and the attackers then stormed into the compound. The Afghan security forces retaliated the attack and an ensuing gunbattle killed one Afghan policeman and wounded three others. Abdulzai confirmed that three attackers were killed in the ensuing gunbattle. NATO has claimed that there were no casualties among coalition troops. The security situation of Afghanistan has been worsening as the national security force has taken control of the security of the country this year. The worsening security situation of the country also asserts pressure on Afghan President Hamid Karzai to sign a security deal with the US to keep its troops in the country as NATO/ISAF forces prepare to leave Afghanistan till end of 2014. The US is keen to sign a Bilateral Security Agreement with Afghanistan that will allow to keep over 15000 US troops in the country after 2014 to train and support Afghan troops. Earlier last month, Deputy Interior Minister of Afghanistan General Salim Ehsas in a conference in capital city Kabul said that Taliban rebels killed nearly eighty Afghan policemen every week during the current fighting season as the national security forces take on the battle against militants