0
LANDI KOTAL, Dec 17: A woman was killed and a child sustained injuries when suspected militants fired two rockets at Takhta Beg security checkpost in Jamrud tehsil of Khyber tribal region on Wednesday.
According to sources the apparent target of the rockets was a caravan of more than 160 vehicles, carrying supplies for Nato forces in war-ravaged Afghanistan.
Both the rockets, fired by suspected militants at 12:30pm, missed the target as one of them landed behind the parking lot of vehicles carrying supplies for Nato troops and the other hit a nearby house damaging it partially and injuring a woman and a child.
The injured were rushed to a local hospital but the woman, whose name was yet to be ascertained, succumbed to her injuries in the hospital. The rockets were fired from a local graveyard, some two furlongs away from the security post, Khasadar force personnel said.
The attack caused no damage as almost all the trailers, container and oil trucks had left Takhta Beg post for Afghanistan and only fifteen vehicles were present at the parking lot, which too left the area later on safely.
KIDNAPPED: The owner of a trucks terminal on Ring Road was kidnapped by armed men on Tuesday night and was shifted to undisclosed location.
The kidnapped person identified as Inayatullah was coming to his residence in Shahkas area of tehsil Jamrud when some armed men intercepted his vehicle and whisked him away to undisclosed place.
Our Peshawar Bureau adds: The Sarhad Goods Transport and Adda Owners Association has announced that it would continue transportation of goods for the Nato and US forces in Afghanistan conditionally.
Members of the association, in a general body meeting here on Wednesday, said they had already submitted their demands to the government. “If our demands are not met then we will be forced to announce a strike after 15 days,” they added.
They demanded compensation for the drivers, who had been killed, and the vehicles which were burnt while transporting goods for Nato and US forces in the war-torn Afghanistan.
They said oil tankers had been given the right of insurance in case of any mishap but owners of the trailers were not paid compensation, adding that about 300 trailers had been damaged and burnt since commencement of the supply.
About the casualties, they said that more than 200 people including drivers, cleaners and owners of the vehicles had lost their lives but official data about them was not available.
Expressing their anguish, the transporters said they wanted to formally apprise the government of their problems and demands but the authorities were reluctant to hold negotiations with them.
They set a deadline of 15 days for solution to their problems, saying if the government did not pay attention to their demands they would stop supplying goods to Nato forces in Afghanistan.
The chairman of the association, Mohammad Ashraf Khan Khalil and vice chairman Mohammad Arif Afridi later told Dawn that their demand about shifting of terminals to Nowshera would remain intact as it was comparatively a safe place.
