Kabul: Afghan officials say three Taliban suicide bombers targeted NATO fuel trucks at the border with Pakistan, setting off a gunbattle with police guards.
A spokesman for the border police in eastern Nangarhar province, Idris Momand, says the attack took place early today at the parking lot of the NATO outpost near the Torkham border crossing, a key supply route for the alliance.
Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, the spokesman for the provincial governor, says two of the attackers were killed by police while one blew himself up in the attack. Abdulzai says 37 NATO fuel trucks were destroyed by explosions set off during the gunbattle.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid says his group was behind the attack. Most NATO cargo shipments go through the Torkham crossing, toward Pakistan’s port city of Karachi.
Meanwhile, about 100,000 people have fled the troubled North Waziristan tribal region in Pakistan as curfew was relaxed in the area where the Pakistan Army has launched an all-out offensive against the Taliban. The Pakistan Army has launched a ground and air offensive in the area known for having hideouts of the al-Qaeda-linked militants. (AP)
