Three persons, including a child, were killed and hundred of shops destroyed when two oil tankers supplying fuel to the NATO troops in Afghanistan were attacked in separate incidents on late Saturday night outside Peshawar. According to an official source, it seemed that in the first incident, the oil tanker had been targeted by planting a magnet bomb. “When the oil tanker reached the Karkhano Market near Hayatabad, Peshawar, it caught fire with after a huge blast, killing two persons while injuring seven others,” the source said. Police said the shops caught fire due to the blast and destroyed dozens of them while a car and van also were gutted in the inferno. “I heard a huge blast and ran for safety as I was very closed the site but later took part in rescue activities as nearby shops and cabins caught fire,” Tahir, a eyewitness and owner of a shop in one of the effected market, told Pakistan Today. Another eyewitness, Bilal Afridi from the Bara area of Khyber Agency, said when he first heard the blast he was trying to ascertain the situation as he also heard the gunshots and rushed to the site. “Soon after hearing the blast and firing, the nearby cabins caught fire which engulfed others nearby structures as well,” he said. The fired engulfed four nearby plazas including National market, Shinwari Market, Khyber Market and SS market, destructing more than 100 shops and cabins and goods worth of millions rupees million of rupees. The Rescue 1122 fire-fighters, the fire brigade, locals and traders played their part in extinguishing the fire during the two-hour-long efforts. The injured persons had been shifted to the Hayatabad Medical Complex (HTC), where, according to the hospital sources, two of them were in critical condition. In the second attack around 10 kilometres from the site of the first, the AFP says, militants late Saturday opened fire on another oil tanker in the town of Jamrud, in the Khyber tribal district, killing the driver and wounding his helper. An intelligence official in Peshawar said both tankers were carrying fuel for NATO troops in Afghanistan. No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks but the official blamed Taliban militants for the attacks. Most supplies and equipment required by foreign troops in Afghanistan are transported through Pakistan. Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants frequently launch attacks across north-western Pakistan and the lawless tribal belt on the Afghan border.
