Pak Taliban claim attacks on NATO supply convoys in Pakistan

MIRAMSHAH - The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has claimed responsibility for the attack on an oil depot close to Islamabad in which at least six people were killed and 27 NATO tankers were set on fire.

“We accept responsibility for the attacks on the NATO supply trucks and tankers. I am talking about attacks both in Sindh and in Islamabad,” The Dawn quoted a TTP spokesman, as saying.

“We will carry out more such attacks in future. We will not allow the use of Pakistani soil as a supply route for NATO troops based in Afghanistan. This is also to avenge drone attacks,” he added.

According to reports, dozens of tankers were being filled with fuel for NATO troops in Afghanistan when the attack took place on Monday morning.

“Between 10 to 12 men armed with automatic weapons stormed the depot from two sides. They opened indiscriminate fire on the tankers,” Umar Farooq, a senior Islamabad police official had said.

This was the latest in a series of attacks on convoys travelling by land through Pakistan to supply NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Earlier, on last Friday, at least 27 trucks carrying supplies for the troops were set on fire in Sindh.

It came amid a row between NATO and Pakistan after a recent cross-border air strike by International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) killed three Pakistani troops.

In response to the heightened tension, Pakistan has closed down a key supply route for forces.

In a meeting with CIA Director Leon Panetta, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had also conveyed to the United States that any violation of its sovereignty was unacceptable to Pakistan. (ANI)