Nato trucks attacked in Pak

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The Taliban frequently attack trucks carrying supplies for the US-led foreign forces in Pakistan’s northwest and southwest bordering Afghanistan, but the attack near Islamabad late on Tuesday was unprecedented.

“Seven people were killed and more than 50 trucks were set on fire,” police official Ghulam Mustafa said. Six people were wounded. The police said 10 to 12 gunmen attacked the trucks, parked at a depot in Tarnol.

“We are still trying to find out how this attack has happened,” Shah Nawaz, head of Tarnol police station said. “The attackers walked into the depot and started indiscriminate firing.”

The assault underscores growing insecurity in Pakistan where the Taliban have unleashed a wave of suicide and bomb attacks across the country in retaliation for military offensives on their strongholds in the northwest.

Militants allied to the Pakistani Taliban killed more than 80 people in two brazen attacks on Ahmadiyya, a minority religious sect, in the eastern city of Lahore late last month.
The US military sends 75 per cent of its supplies for the Afghan war through or over Pakistan, including 40 per cent of the fuel for its troops. The attacks, especially in the northwestern Khyber tribal region, have forced Nato to look for alternative routes, including through Central Asia.

Chopper attacked
Meanwhile, in Kabul at least four foreign service members of the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force for Afghanistan were killed on Wednesday when their helicopter was brought down by insurgent fire, the alliance said.

At least 17 foreign servicemen have been killed this week alone as the Taliban step up an insurgency they have waged since being overthrown in a US-led invasion in 2001.
Dawood Ahmadi, a spokesman for Helmand’s governor, said the chopper was hovering at low altitude, giving air support to ground troops, when it was hit by a rocket propelled grenade. ISAF would only say the incident happened in southern Helmand province.
As standard practice, the names and nationalities of ISAF casualties are only released by their home countries.