14 NATO lorries torched in Pakistan

[Turborama]

Source: Al Jazeera English

Pakistani Taliban target tankers supplying conflict across the border in Afghanistan.
Last Modified: Jan 15 2011 18:46 GMT



Armed men have attacked tankers carrying fuel for US and NATO forces in Afghanistan as they sat parked at a roadside restaurant in southwestern Pakistan, officials say.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, in which 14 vehicles were set ablaze on Saturday.

The attack took place in the Dera Murad Jamali area of Balochistan province, according to Fatteh Mohammed, a local government official.

The vehicles were likely headed to the Pakistan-Afghanistan border crossing in the town of Chaman.

Akbar Hussain Durani, the home secretary of Balochistan, said 136 NATO tankers were destroyed in 56 such attacks in the province last year. In all, 34 people have been killed, and 23 wounded, in attacks on the supply route, he said

Read more: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2011/01/201111517248680630.html

[The Magistrate]

1. Someone Has Failed To Pay Up On Time, Sir

Or someone wants a better percentage....

These incidents are usually not acts of war, strictly speaking, but disputes over price with the local Taliban fighters we pay not to burn the trucks.

"Oh, what a lovely war!"

[burf]

2. That brings up a question

in my mind. What did this attack cost us monetarily? We had been told that fuel was costing $100 to $400 a gallon. Well, 14 tankers each carrying 5,000 gallons at four bucks a gallon would turn out to be quite a hefty sum.

Just wondering. I don't expect a question to be asked by any of our media, nor a reply by anyone at the Pentagon.

[Violet_Crumble]

3. Pakistan shootings and tanker attacks fuel crisis fears

Gunmen have shot dead at least 17 people in fresh violence in the Pakistani city of Karachi.

A television journalist was among the dead after the attack in the country's commercial hub.

"At least 17 people have died in the past three days by firing by unknown gunmen in several parts of Karachi," the city police chief, Fayyaz Leghari, said.

After hundreds of killings last year, there are concerns that violence in Pakistan could escalate and create a new crisis for the US-backed government.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/15/pakistan-shootings-tanker-attacks

[cosmicone]

4. Pakistan is a basket case ...

High on Islamic bravado and fanaticism, obsessed with wrenching post-America influence in Afghanistan from India which has paid $2 billion plus for Afghanistan reconstruction.

Pakistani Taliban is nothing but an offshoot of the ISI. For example, "Mullah Omar" didn't exist before Taliban takeover of Afghanistan and no one has seen him since 9/11 while intelligence agencies speculate that he was a high ranking Pakistani general who just went back to his old job.

Why are we giving aid to Pakistan again to hurt our assets and our people?