KARACHI (AFP) — Suspected militants in the Pakistani port city of Karachi torched two armoured vehicles destined for NATO-led forces in Afghanistan, police said Monday.
The vehicles were parked outside the Karachi port when unidentified assailants set them on fire, destroying one and damaging the other, senior police officer Iqbal Mehmood told AFP.
The consignment was to be transported to southern Afghanistan via the Chaman border in Pakistan's Baluchistan province.
But a truck drivers' strike in Karachi had held up delivery of the vehicles, which were loaded on a trailer, for the past three days.
"A group of unknown people set the vehicles on fire near the Karachi Port, which totally burnt one vehicle while another was damaged," Mehmood said. "We are investigating whether any extremist group is behind it."
Authorities stepped up security of Afghanistan-bound NATO consignments after the incident, he said.
Contractors handling NATO consignments for landlocked Afghanistan were also being contacted and told to provide adequate security in the future, Mehmood said.
Suspected Taliban militants have in the past attacked oil tankers supplying fuel to US bases in eastern and southern Afghanistan.
Islamic militants in the northwestern border town of Landikotal blew up 36 tankers carrying fuel for US and NATO troops in neighbouring Afghanistan in March. Officials blamed pro-Taliban militants for the attack.
Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
