ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Taleban militants yesterday attacked a terminal used by military trucks ferrying supplies to NATO and US forces in Afghanistan, killing two people and destroying over a dozen trucks in Peshawar in the in Khyber Agency.
A local police officer Zahoor Khan confirmed that attackers fired three rockets into the Faisal terminal and torched two armored vehicles, one crane and other items.
The attack on the US-led coalition trucks took place at a terminal in Peshawar, which sits along the supply route from Pakistan to Afghanistan. The city has seen an upsurge in violence in recent weeks, including the slaying of an American working on a US-funded aid project.
Several gunmen fired rockets and automatic weapons at the Faisal terminal, killing a driver and a clerk and destroying 12 trucks, said police officer Ahsanullah Khan. An AP Television News reporter saw two Humvee military vehicles on board the trucks that were on fire following the attack.
In Swat where Pakistan Army has engaged militants in a regular warfare at least 10 people were killed and 50 injured yesterday after a suicide bomber blew up his explosives-laden car, officials said. The bombing took place at a security checkpoint in the town of Mingora in the scenic Swat Valley.
“The attacker was trying to approach the checkpost after bypassing the queue but his car exploded on the way,” an official said. The chief of a local government hospital, Dr. Lal Noor, said nine bodies were brought in along with the 50 who were wounded and one of the injured died at hospital.
Gunfights were also reported in several other parts of Swat Valley, the official said. A soldier and a militant were killed at Qambar village near Mingora in a gunfight when militants tried to get 17 of their men released from security forces who had been arrested yesterday, he said.
Separately, one militant was killed and several others were injured in a clash with troops outside Mingora, a security official said. He added that authorities on Monday imposed a curfew in Mingora which was lifted in the afternoon and that troops had launched a search operation for militants in the area.
The mountainous, snow-capped Swat region is renowned for its ancient Buddhist relics and once attracted large numbers of foreign and local tourists with Pakistan’s only ski resort. But since last year it has been beset by violence blamed on pro-Taleban militants.
The region has been turned into a battleground since radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah, who has links to Pakistan’s Taleban movement, launched a violent campaign for the introduction of Islamic Shariah law in the valley.
Fazlullah is known as “Mullah Radio” for broadcasting fiery speeches over his private FM radio station. The army last year launched a major offensive in the once-popular tourist site against Islamic militants.
