Fuel supplies for US troops hit

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7311064.stm

Monday, 24 March 2008, 16:30 GMT

Fuel supplies for US troops hit

Some 40 road tankers supplying fuel to American troops in

Afghanistan have been destroyed by suspected pro-Taleban militants

on the border with Pakistan.

he attacks, at the Pakistani border crossing point of Torkham,

wounded about 70 people who had gathered in a nearby field.

Foreign forces in Afghanistan receive much of their fuel through

Pakistan.

Elsewhere, seven Afghans working on mine clearance projects have

been killed in incidents in the north.

Five of the de-miners were killed on Sunday in Jowzjan province,

which the BBC's Alastair Leithead in Kabul says is normally

peaceful. Two more employees were killed on Monday in Kunduz

province.

Burning oil

The attack on the fuel tankers took place at about 2000 local time

on Sunday.

Local officials said two explosions were heard in an area where more

than 100 fuel lorries had been parked for the night, waiting to

cross the border and deliver fuel to US forces in Afghanistan.

As drivers tried to evacuate the area and escape the flames one

truck carrying oil exploded and crowds were showered with burning

oil.

Local officials said more than 70 had been injured and were taken to

hospitals on both sides of the border.

Locals said 50 shops were also destroyed.

Our correspondent says there have been a number of incidents like

this in the past few weeks, all thought to have been sabotage and

blamed on insurgents as they were attacking vehicles connected with

international forces in Afghanistan.

'Hundreds of bullets'

In the incident in Jowzjan province, a group of mine clearance

workers were attacked by four men on two motorbikes in the district

of Fayzabad while on their way back to their base camp in the

district of Oqacah.

Five de-miners were killed and seven others travelling in the truck

which was attacked were badly injured.

Farib Elmi, the Deputy Director of the Afghan Technical Consultants

group, who they worked for, said hundreds of bullets were fired from

AK47's and heavy machine guns in the ambush which lasted some

minutes.

" The area is safe according to our information and there have been

no incidents like this before. This is the first case we have seen, "

Mr Elmi said.

He said he did not know who might have been responsible.

This part of Afghanistan is thought to be an where the Taleban have

little influence.

Farid Homayoun of the Halo Trust, the biggest de-mining group in

Afghanistan, condemned the attack and appealed to all parties to

respect de-miners who he said were " very neutral across political

and ethnic groups " .

" Killing innocent de-miners is not going to achieve anything and is

working against the quarter of the population that are affected by

land mines, " Mr Homayoun said.

On Monday, gunmen in Kunduz province opened fire on a car carrying

employees of Mine Detection and Dog Centre, the NGO said.

One of the de-miners and the driver were killed.

A Taleban spokesman (Zabihollah Mojahed) condemned the killings: he

said the Taleban never attacked mine clearance workers.