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Video: Pakistan Taliban capture 3 humvees and trucks from supply column
Landikotal-- Militants hijacked 13 trucks carrying supplies for US-led NATO forces in Afghanistan on Monday as they passed through the Khyber Pass, a government official said.Most supplies, including fuel, for US and other Western forces battling a Taliban insurgency in landlocked Afghanistan are trucked through Khyber Agency, which is also facing growing militant violence. Security along t More..h More..e road leading to the border has deteriorated this year and soldiers carried out a sweep in part of the Khyber region in June to push militants back from the outskirts of provincial metropolis. The trucks were seized at four places along a 35 km stretch of the road, said a senior government administrator in the Khyber region. "About 60 masked gunmen popped up on the road and took away the trucks with their drivers. Not a single shot was fired anywhere," the official, Bakhtiar Mohmand, told Reuters. Mohmand said the trucks were not carrying weapons or ammunition but he was not sure what goods they were taking. He said he believed militants loyal to Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud were responsible. "Baitullah's men are behind this as they're very well-equiped and trained," he said. Residents said two Pakistani army helicopter gunships flew over the area after the trucks were hijacked and carried out some firing, killing a civilian. In Landikotal, the main town before the pass, traders and transport company operators complained that the government wasn't taking security on the road seriously. "The government is a silent spectator. They attack our trucks, loot them and kill our drivers in broad daylight, even near security checkposts, but they can't do anything," said Eshtiar Mohmand, who owns a trucking company Posted by: 3dc 2008-11-13 |
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