TTP claims attacks on Nato-tankers in Islamabad & Shikarpur

TTP claims attacks on Nato-tankers in Islamabad & Shikarpur
=======Torkham route remains closed on fifth day for Nato-supplies
By Mohammad Saleem Mehsud

PESHAWAR, Oct 04: Banned Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) Pakistan on Monday claimed responsibility for the two recent attacks on Nato supply convoy in Pakistan while Nato supply through Pak-Afghan border of Torkham remained suspended for the fifth dayon Monday.

TTP spokesman Azam Tariq Mehsood told a private TV channel from undisclosed location that fighters of TTP carried out both the attacks in Islamabad and Sindh and threatened to carry out more attacks in the future.

He further said that Taliban will not allow the Nato forces to use Pakistani soil as supply route. “This is also to avenge drone attacks,” he added.

Sihala Police Station officials have registered a case against five unidentified militants and also arrested five suspects and shifted them for interrogation.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik taking notice of the burning of Nato supply tankers, directed IG Islamabad Syed Kalim Imam to submit a report of the incident within 24 hours.

Two of the injured in the attack on NATO tankers in Rawalpindi were lying in critical condition in DHQ Hospital Rawalpindi.

According to the sources at Torkham border, the containers packed with Nato supplies are not being allowed to cross the border; their clearance is hitherto suspended. Sources said around 200 Nato containers are standing in the area and waiting clearance to cross the border into Afghanistan.

It should be mentioned here that Pakistan suspended the supply line after the martyrdom of security personnel in a shelling from helicopters of the allied forces, which violated the country’s airspace.

A high-level team of Pak Army was sent to Afghanistan for probe into the violations of Pakistani airspace by Nato forces. The Pak team is probing the incident along with Nato officials.

The incidents of attacks on Nato containers are on the rise in Pakistan. Some days back, Nato oil containers were attacked in Shikarpur, where several oil tankers were destroyed. Nato supply oil tankers were attacked in Islamabad during Monday night.

Reports say that 12 people were reportedly killed when 28 Nato oil tankers were torched by alleged militants early Monday morning in Rawalpindi, a city near Pakistan's capital Islamabad.
According to local media, nine men on motorcycles opened fire at a NATO convoy near the DHA Phase II area of Rawalpindi, an area which is only about half-an-hour ride south of Islamabad.

This is the third attack on Nato supply trucks over the past three days following the air strikes by NATO helicopters in Pakistan's territory on Thursday, which killed three Pakistani troops and injured three others.