.- Two separate attacks in northwestern Pakistan on Saturday destroyed 12 trucks of NATO supplies that went into Afghanistan and caused a fire that killed 15 civilians who collected fuel that leaked from a tanker truck. In the town of Landi Kotal in the Khyber tribal province, bordering Afghanistan, residents gathered on Saturday morning around a tanker of NATO to recover gasoline that leaked after a bomb blast.
"The tanker caught fire after the explosion caused by a small bomb before dawn," said Shafeerullah Wazir, head of local administration. "The neighbors rushed forward and began to collect petrol flowing from the destroyed truck, once extinguished the fire," he said. "Suddenly there was another fire, and at least 15 people were burned, including five boys who had been collecting fuel in buckets," he said.
All the victims are civilians, mainly young people, including nine from the same family, according to local officials. Previously, some 11 trucks from NATO, "Most tankers" were destroyed in the nearby city of Torjam, said another official of the administration, Iqbal Khattak. "The vehicles caught fire after an explosion in one of the tankers, past midnight, causing no casualties," the official said.
The attacks were not claimed. But the trucks with supplies and NATO tankers are often targets of attacks attributed to Taliban and other militant groups seeking to cut the supply of the 130,000 US-led soldiers fighting in Afghanistan. Most of the supplies and equipment to the NATO military in Afghanistan are sent through Pakistan despite U.S.
attempts to negotiate alternative transportation routes in Central Asia. The Pakistani Taliban, Islamist rebels swore allegiance to Al Qaeda in 2007 and have since then a campaign of deadly attacks in Pakistan, vowed to avenge the death of Osama Bin Laden, who died May 2 in northern Iraq in an operation command U.S..
Since then claimed two attacks, one car on Friday against the U.S. consulate in Peshawar in northwestern Pakistan, which slightly wounded two Americans and killed a passerby. A week earlier, a double suicide bombing in front of a training center for police in Shabqadar, also in the northwest left 98 dead and over 140 wounded.
The tribal areas of northwest Pakistan, which Washington regards as "the most dangerous region in the world", are the Pakistani Taliban stronghold and the main sanctuary in the world for Al Qaida. It is also the rear base of the Afghan Taliban. 
"The tanker caught fire after the explosion caused by a small bomb before dawn," said Shafeerullah Wazir, head of local administration. "The neighbors rushed forward and began to collect petrol flowing from the destroyed truck, once extinguished the fire," he said. "Suddenly there was another fire, and at least 15 people were burned, including five boys who had been collecting fuel in buckets," he said.
All the victims are civilians, mainly young people, including nine from the same family, according to local officials. Previously, some 11 trucks from NATO, "Most tankers" were destroyed in the nearby city of Torjam, said another official of the administration, Iqbal Khattak. "The vehicles caught fire after an explosion in one of the tankers, past midnight, causing no casualties," the official said.
The attacks were not claimed. But the trucks with supplies and NATO tankers are often targets of attacks attributed to Taliban and other militant groups seeking to cut the supply of the 130,000 US-led soldiers fighting in Afghanistan. Most of the supplies and equipment to the NATO military in Afghanistan are sent through Pakistan despite U.S.
attempts to negotiate alternative transportation routes in Central Asia. The Pakistani Taliban, Islamist rebels swore allegiance to Al Qaeda in 2007 and have since then a campaign of deadly attacks in Pakistan, vowed to avenge the death of Osama Bin Laden, who died May 2 in northern Iraq in an operation command U.S..
Since then claimed two attacks, one car on Friday against the U.S. consulate in Peshawar in northwestern Pakistan, which slightly wounded two Americans and killed a passerby. A week earlier, a double suicide bombing in front of a training center for police in Shabqadar, also in the northwest left 98 dead and over 140 wounded.
The tribal areas of northwest Pakistan, which Washington regards as "the most dangerous region in the world", are the Pakistani Taliban stronghold and the main sanctuary in the world for Al Qaida. It is also the rear base of the Afghan Taliban.
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