2nd Afghan supply line attacked in Pakistan

Times:

An armed gang carried out the first attack on a secondary southern supply route for foreign troops in Afghanistan, as thousands of lorry drivers continue to boycott the main route through the Khyber Pass.

Police revealed yesterday that at least three gunmen attacked a fuel tanker bound for Afghanistan on Tuesday just east of the Pakistani city of Quetta, shooting and wounding the driver and spilling 60,000 litres of fuel.

Militants also fired two rocket-propelled grenades yesterday at a convoy of more than 150 lorries as it set off on the northern route from the northwestern city of Peshawar towards the Khyber Pass, local officials said.

They were the latest in a series of bold attacks on the supply route through Pakistan in the last month that have accelerated efforts by Nato to open a “northern corridor” through Russia and Central Asia.

About 75 per cent of US military supplies in land-locked Afghanistan and a smaller, though significant, proportion of Nato's are shipped into the Pakistani port of Karachi and then taken overland across the Afghan border.

Most are driven via the Khyber Pass and the border town of Torkham to Kabul, the Afghan capital, but some are taken by lorry to southern Afghanistan via Quetta and the border town of Chaman. Pakistani authorities were forced to close the Khyber Pass route for nine days last week after militants carried out their biggest attack yet on the supply line, burning at least 260 vehicles on two consecutive nights.

They reopened it on Monday but the Khyber Transport Association, which claims to represent 3,500 lorry owners and drivers, refused to resume taking Nato and US supplies because of the recent security problems.

They are especially concerned about the lack of security at the growing number of freight terminals on the ring road around Peshawar, where lorries typically wait for the night before proceeding to Kabul.

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Perhaps the Teamsters should take over those contracts for hauling. Pakistan is going to have to do a better job of protecting the supply lines. If it can't the coalition can. The enemy is trying to put greater pressure on Pakistan because it is feeling the heats from the attacks along the Afghan border. I suspect those responsible for the attacks on the supply line may get a chance to eat some Hellfire, as we gather intelligence on their activities.