More details:
171 Nato vehicles destroyed in attack
Monday, December 08, 2008
Over 300 armed men storm two parking bays in Peshawar
By Javed Aziz Khan
PESHAWAR: As many as 171 vehicles of the US-led Nato forces, including 62 armoured personnel carriers (APCs), were torched by armed attackers in two parking bays on the Ring Road in the vicinity of Pishtakhara here early Sunday morning.
Around 130 vehicles were completely destroyed in the attack, while 40 others were partially damaged. Police officials could only confirm the burning of 62 Humvees, saying some other vehicles were also damaged in the attack.
The attack is the biggest ever on Nato logistics in Pakistan, during which a watchman was killed while two others were injured when they offered resistance to over 300 attackers, who were armed with rocket launchers, hand grenades, petrol bombs and AK-47 rifles.
Police encountered the attackers at some points when they were fleeing. There were reports that three of them were arrested, but nobody confirmed it.
A worker at the Port World Logistics on Ring Road near Pishtakhara said 106 vehicles were parked in their parking lot, including trucks, Humvees, cranes, fire brigade trucks and jeeps. Over 60 other vehicles were parked at the Al-Faisal Terminal, located across the Ring Road.
Recalling the pre-dawn incident, a worker of the Port World Terminal said that over 300 armed men fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the main gate of the parking lot and after breaking in, opened indiscriminate fire on watchmen, killing one on the spot and injuring two others. He added that the attackers later fired rockets at the parked vehicles, hurled petrol bombs and sprinkled fuel on the lorries to set them ablaze.
The firing of rocket launchers and automatic weapons that started at around 3:15 am continued for almost 45 minutes. Eyewitnesses said the attackers were so relaxed about their action that they continued firing and torching the vehicles without any fear of police or other law-enforcers.
Hundreds of villagers in the nearby areas came out of their houses in panic after hearing the loud bangs. I thought for a moment that Peshawar has been attacked by some militia to take it over, Ali Rahman of Landi Akhun Ahmad village, told The News, adding that they could hear the blasts in short intervals for a long time.
The fire that reduced vehicles and goods at the terminals to ashes was extinguished at around 8 am.
The attack is second in the past week after the December 1 similar assault when two drivers were killed and 15 Nato trucks were set on fire. Earlier, the Nato trucks en route Afghanistan had also come under fire of the militants who snatched 18 Nato vehicles, including Humvees.
A Humvee is now being used by a newly emerged leader of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Hakimullah Mehsud.
The TTP had warned of attacking the Nato supplies through Pakistan if the American forces did not stop the missile strikes in tribal areas and parts of the Frontier. Since then, Nato trucks were attacked twice on the Ring Road, hardly two kilometres away from the Peshawar Cantonment.
AFP adds: Meanwhile, senior police officer Abdul Qadir Qamar said, This is the first time the militants came in such a large number. He termed it a coordinated and well-planned attack.
The insurgents, who had stolen the petrol from a nearby gas station, fled when police arrived at the scene, Qamar added.
One security official said they had struck, as police were busy investigating Fridays huge bomb blast in Peshawar that killed 34 people and wounded 120 others.
It was also a weekend and security was relatively relaxed because of Eid vacation, the official said.
Qamar said the number of guards at the terminal had been increased in the wake of that attack, but they were overwhelmed by the sheer number of the militants.
We are preparing a new strategy to prevent such incidents in future, he added.
171 Nato vehicles destroyed in attack
