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| December 28, 2006 | Thursday | Zilhaj 06, 1427 |
Pakistani dies as Taliban attack oil convoy
QUETTA, Dec 27: A Pakistani driver was killed and two others injured after the Taliban attacked a convoy of oil tankers on the Chaman-Kandahar highway near Spin Boldak, an Afghan border district, on Wednesday. The tankers were carrying fuel for Nato forces in Afghanistan.
"The Afghan government has handed over the body of driver Hayat Khan Shinwari (who died in the attack) to Pakistani authorities at the Chaman border," officials in Chaman told this correspondent, adding that the driver’s body was despatched to Landi Kotal, his native town.
The Taliban have accepted the responsibility for the attack on and warned of more attacks on Pakistani vehicles if they continued to supply Nato forces in Afghanistan.
According to Afghan officials, a convoy of five oil tankers came under heavy rocket attack near the Mail Pul area, some 25 kilometres from Spin Boldak town, on the highway to Kandahar at around 12.30pm.
"Three oil tankers were blown up after they were hit by rockets, instantly killing one of the Pakistani drivers," an Afghan official Akhtar Mohammad said, adding that two other drivers were injured. He said that they had been admitted to a hospital in Spin Boldak.
Two others tankers were also damaged in the attack, according to the Afghan official.
Soon after the attack, Afghan forces tried to pursue the attackers who managed to escape, sources said.
According to sources, Nato and Afghan forces launched a joint operation against the Taliban responsible for the attack.
Meanwhile, Qari Mullah Mohammad Yusuf, a Taliban spokesman, claimed that Taliban were behind the attack and reiterated that Taliban had time and again warned that they would target vehicles providing logistical support to Nato forces in Afghanistan.
"We will carry out more attacks to stop the oil supply to Nato forces in Afghanistan," he said. He denied news reports about the killing of Mullah Akhtar Usmani, a top Taliban commander and a close aide of Mullah Omar, and claimed that he was ‘safe and sound’, adding that they would soon release a video regarding his activities in southern Afghanistan.
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