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Gunmen attack APCs in Karachi bound for Afghanistan
(AKI) - Militants in the Pakistani port city of Karachi set fire to two armoured personnel carriers bound for US forces in Afghanistan, police said on Monday. Adnkronos International (AKI) recently reported that Islamist militants had threatened to start attacking supplies bound for foreign forces in Afghanistan after the largest-ever shipment of NATO arms and military supplies arrived in the port. The shipment of NATO arms and military supplies arrived in Karachi in early August and was to be moved through Pakistan to Afghanistan amid growing concern about the threat from militants in the border region. Five hundred and thirty containers carrying missiles, armoured personnel vehicles, aircraft engines and several other items were ready for shipment. On Monday around two dozen gunmen reportedly attacked supplies on a truck that had been parked near a main road since 18 August because of a strike by truck drivers over rising fuel prices. Officials previously told AKI's Pakistani correspondent, Syed Saleem Shahzad, they were concerned about the fate of the supplies, particularly after the resignation of President Pervez Musharraf and continuing conflict in the border region. "The Taliban-led insurgency has now spread all over the NWFP (North-West Frontier Province) and one wonders who is to arrange the safe transit," an official at the Karachi Port Trust told Adnkronos International (AKI) on condition of anonymity. "Pakistan needs to send them (containers) to Kabul and Kandahar through two routes - one through the Torkham border takes 36 hours from Karachi and the second route to the Chaman border takes around 18 hours from Karachi. "Both routes are insecure as the Taliban has recently looted and destroyed many container convoys." Posted by: Fred 2008-08-26 |
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