PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Three people were killed and 16 wounded when
militants blew up one NATO supply oil tanker and opened fire on another
in Pakistan's troubled northwest, police and officials said.
The
first incident took place near a market in a suburb of Peshawar, close
to the Khyber tribal district, when a remote controlled bomb went off
late Saturday, triggering a huge fire and destroying up to 100 shops,
police said.
"The remote-controlled device planted under the
tanker exploded before it entered the tribal area, the fire has
engulfed five markets," Mohammad Ijaz Khan, a senior police officer,
told AFP.
Khan said the blaze destroyed up to 100 shops before the fire service brought it under control.
"Two people were killed and 15 other were wounded, militants were involved in this attack," he added.
In
the second attack, around 10 kilometres from the site of the first,
militants late Saturday opened fire on another oil tanker in the town
of Jamrud, in the Khyber tribal district, killing the driver and
wounding his helper, local official Arshad Khan told AFP.
An
intelligence official in Peshawar said both tankers were carrying fuel
for NATO troops in Afghanistan. No group has claimed responsibility for
the attacks but the official blamed Taliban militants for the attacks.
Most supplies and equipment required by foreign troops in Afghanistan are transported through Pakistan.
Taliban
and Al-Qaeda-linked militants frequently launch attacks across
northwestern Pakistan and the lawless tribal belt on the Afghan border. AFP
