More than 160 U.S., NATO vehicles destroyed in militant attacks in Pakistan

[Guest guest]

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/081207/world/pakistan

More than 160 U.S., NATO vehicles destroyed in militant attacks in

Pakistan

Sun Dec 7, 2:29 PM

By Riaz Khan, The Associated Press

PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Insurgents torched 160 vehicles, including

dozens of Humvees destined for U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan

on Sunday, in the boldest attacks so far on the critical military

supply line through Pakistan.

The American military said raids on two transport terminals near the

beleaguered Pakistani city of Peshawar would have " minimal " impact on

anti-Taliban operations set to expand with the arrival of thousands

more troops next year.

However, the attacks fed concern that insurgents are trying to choke

off the western supply route through the famed Khyber Pass and drive

up the cost of the war. Up to 70 per cent of the supplies destined

for western forces in landlocked Afghanistan go through the pass.

Sunday's attacks also dents faith in the ability of Pakistani

authorities to contain the militants. Islamabad is already under

pressure from India and the U.S. to act on suspicion that the deadly

terror attacks in Mumbai were orchestrated by Islamic extremists

based in Pakistan.

The owner of one of the terminals hit Sunday denied government claims

that security was boosted after an ambush last month in which bearded

militants made off with a Humvee and later paraded it in triumph

before journalists.

" We don't feel safe here at all, " Kifayatullah Khan told The

Associated Press. He predicted that most of his night watchmen would

quit their jobs out of fear.

" It is almost impossible for us to continue with this business, " he

said.

The attack reduced a section of the walled Portward Logistic Terminal

to a smouldering junkyard.

Khan said armed men flattened the gate before dawn with a rocket-

propelled grenade, fatally shot a guard and set fire to 106 vehicles,

including about 70 Humvees.

Humvees are thought to cost about $100,000 each, though the price

varies widely depending on armour and other equipment, meaning

Sunday's losses may exceed $10 million.

An Associated Press reporter who visited the depot saw six rows of

destroyed Humvees and military trucks packed close together, some on

flatbed trailers, all of them gutted and twisted by the flames.

Khan said shipping documents showed they were destined for U.S.

forces and the western-trained Afghan National Army.

The attackers fled after a brief exchange of fire with police, who

arrived about 40 minutes later, he said.

The nine other guards who were on duty stood helplessly aside. Khan

said the guards put the number of attackers at 300, though police

official Kashif Alam said there were only 30.

At the nearby Faisal depot, manager Shah Iran said 60 vehicles

destined for Afghanistan as well as three Pakistani trucks were

burned in a similar assault.

The attacks were the latest in a string highlighting the

vulnerability of the supply route to the spreading power of the

Taliban in the border region, which is also considered a likely

hiding place for al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

Vast quantities of supplies pass through Pakistan after being

unloaded from ships at the Arabian sea port of Karachi. Some is

routed through Quetta toward the Afghan city of Kandahar, but most

flows through the Khyber Pass toward Kabul and the huge U.S. air base

at Bagram.

The U.S. military in Afghanistan said in a statement that an

unspecified number of its containers were destroyed in Sunday's

attack but that their loss would have " minimal effect on our

operations. "

" It's militarily insignificant, " U.S. spokeswoman Lt.-Col. Rumi

Nielsen-Green said. " You can't imagine the volume of supplies that

come through there and elsewhere and other ways. "

Still, NATO has been seeking an alternative route through Central

Asia, which it acknowledges is more expensive.

Pakistan halted traffic through the Khyber Pass for several days in

November while it arranged for troops to guard the slow-moving

convoys.

Shahedullah Baig, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry in Islamabad,

insisted Sunday that the extra security covered the terminals.

" They are fully protected, but in this kind of situation such

incidents happen, " Baig said.

However, Khan, the depot manager, said that was untrue, and that

there were only a handful of lightly armed police at the targeted

terminals Sunday afternoon.

Peshawar has seen a surge in violence in recent weeks, including the

slaying of an American working on a U.S.-funded aid project. On

Saturday, a car bomb detonated in a busy market area of the city,

killing 29 people and injuring 100 more.

Mehmood Shah, a former chief of security in Pakistan's tribal

badlands now working as a consultant, said militants appeared to have

moved into the Khyber region from both sides of the border in recent

months to put pressure on the supply route.