Home > Pakistan : Militants raid Nato supplies, hijack 13 military trucks

Pakistan : Militants raid Nato supplies, hijack 13 military trucks

by Open-Publishing - Tuesday 11 November 2008
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Wars and conflicts International

Source : "The Dawn"

By Ibrahim Shinwari

LANDI KOTAL, Nov 10: Militants hijacked 13 containers carrying supplies for Nato forces from the highway linking Pakistan with Afghanistan after a brazen attack on Monday, as paramilitary personnel watched from the nearby Jamrud Fort.

The containers were ambushed by dozens of heavily armed men from Wazir Dhand, Teddi Bazaar and Sur Qamar on the Peshawar-Torkham highway. Several Khasadar checkpoints are located nearby.

“It happened on the international highway and you can imagine the implications this can have for us,” an official told Dawn.

He said Taliban seized the containers on the road and emptied them “in clear view of paramilitary personnel” deployed at Jamrud Fort, but they did not take any action.

The militants were later seen driving around in Jamrud area of Khyber Agency, near Peshawar, in military vehicles taken away from the containers. They had hoisted flags and banners of the banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan and its leader Baitullah Mehsud on the vehicles.

Local people said most of the militants in the group, including its leader, appeared to be from Afghanistan’s Nangrahar province and others from Mohmand and Waziristan.

The official said the local administration had been warning the government that Taliban were gaining strength in Jamrud and the issue had also been discussed during last week’s visit to Peshawar by the Prime Minister’s Adviser on Interior Affairs, Rehman Malik.

After desperate calls by the administration, helicopter gunships were sent to retrieve the goods, but by then the militants had managed to shift the merchandise, including wheat.

A 12-year-old schoolboy, Rahim Khan, was killed and six other people, among them two militants, were injured in a 15-minute attack by three helicopters in Ghundi Shaga area. The injured were taken to a hospital in Peshawar.

Officials said since paramilitary forces were deployed in strength to Bajaur and other areas, they did not have enough troops to combat the growing militancy in Jamrud.

Jamrud Political Tehsildar Bakhtiar Mohmand insisted that Khasadar personnel had fired at the militants to prevent the hijacking.

He alleged that Khyber Rifles did not help the Khasadars in preventing such attacks. Mr Mohmand said supporters of Baitullah Mehsud were involved in the incident. Local Taliban leader Mustafa Kamal threatened to retaliate if security forces did not stop shelling civilians in Khyber Agency.

Transporters of fuel and other supplies to North Atlantic Treaty Organisation forces in Afghanistan expressed concern over increasing incidents of hijacking of their vehicles and sale of the stolen goods. They said the government had not compensated them for the losses suffered in such incidents.

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  • Eight killed in operation launched to recover Nato goods

    Dawn Report

    PESHAWAR / LANDI KOTAL, Nov 11: Three militants and five other people were killed and seven others injured when security forces launched an operation in the outskirts of Peshawar and adjoining Khyber and Mohmand tribal regions on Tuesday to recover two Humvee vehicles and military goods looted by militants on Monday.

    The militants hijacked 13 containers carrying supplies for Nato forces in Afghanistan on the Peshawar-Torkham highway and a group working under Baitullah Mehsud claimed responsibility for the attack.

    Local people said that a shell hit the house of one Lal Zada in Kass Korona area and killed three members of his family. Another shell hit the residence of Dr Samer in the same area, injuring three people. Two people were killed when they were caught crossfire.

    Mohmand region’s tehsildar Arshed Ali said that three Taliban militants had been killed.

    The local administration imposed a curfew in Mathra area in the outskirts of Peshawar.

    Sources said that helicopter gunships attacked militant hideouts in Mullagori area of Khyber.

    Political tehsildar Bakhtiar Khattak said the administration had requested the government to send additional troops for a full-scale operation to recover the looted goods.

    In a related development, militants attacked near Torkham a truck carrying a military jeep from Afghanistan and destroyed it.

    Troops also combed several areas in the Mohmand tribal region.

    Officials said the action had been taken on the basis of reports that the militants had taken the stolen goods to Michini area of Mohmand.

    A police official said that some of the looted wheat bags carrying the US markings had been found from the area. The militants had stored the grain at a place on the bank of a river and were selling it for Rs900 per 40kg. In some areas it was distributed free.

    The official said that when security personnel started loading wheat onto vehicles, militants opened firing but they disappeared when troops returned fire. He said that thousands of soldiers had been deployed and checkpoints had been set up in Shahi Bala, Bara Pul, Mathra, Patwar and Michini Pul areas.

    People in Patwar and Mathra said that police had made announcements on loudspeakers at 7am about the imposition of curfew.

    Meanwhile, tribesmen blocked the main road in Jamrud in protest against the killing of a boy by shelling and placed his body outside the political administration’s office.

    Our Charsadda Correspondent adds: Security forces took positions on hilltops near Warsak Dam and Shabqadar areas apparently to launch an operation.

    Amir Abu Hanifa of the Tehrik-i-Taliban in Michini warned of retaliation if the operation was launched.

    According to our correspondent in Ghalanai, the local Taliban released four elders they had kidnapped from Lakaro Qandaro tehsil of Mohmand Agency.

    A hospital employee was injured reportedly in firing by security personnel. Troops have been stationed in various schools in the villages of Was Kor, Daman and Matta.

    Loss of vehicles confirmed

    PESHAWAR: An American military spokesman in Afghanistan on Tuesday night confirmed the hijacking of more than a dozen US trucks and other vehicles by Pakistani militants on Monday.

    “There were some US military materials that were taken — Humvees and water tank trailers,” he said.

    In the past, US and Nato officials have played down their losses along the Pakistan-Afghanistan highway. But earlier this year, Nato said it was trying to reduce its dependence on the route by negotiating with Russia and other nations to let it truck “non-lethal” supplies to Afghanistan.—AP