Nato supplies terminal in Pakistan attacked

28/03/2009| IslamWeb

Dozens of suspected fighters have fired rockets at a transport terminal in northwest Pakistan that is used to ship supplies to Nato soldiers based in Afghanistan, police say.

At least 12 shipping containers were damaged in the attack early on Saturday at the Farhad terminal in Peshawar, capital of the North West Frontier Province, Zahur Khan, a local police official, said.

He said police opened fire at the fighters but they managed to flee.

Afghan-based US and Nato forces get up to 75 per cent of their supplies via routes that pass through Pakistan's Khyber tribal region and a southwestern Chaman border crossing - areas where Taliban fighters are believed to be operating.

The attack in Peshawar came less than a day after a suicide bomber blew up in a mosque in the Khyber Agency, killing 48 people and wounding scores more.

Pro-Taliban fighters were the main suspects behind the bombing, apparently to avenge recent military operations in the area aimed at protecting the Nato supply route, authorities said.

The route passes in front of the mosque, where about 200 worshippers were present at the time of the blast.

PHOTO CAPTION

A Pakistani police officer notes some points next to a truck which was attacked with a bomb, in Chaman, a Pakistani town along Afghan border, Wednesday, March 18, 2009.

Al-Jazeera