WORLD
TALIBAN CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY ATTACKS ON NATO SUPPLY TRUCKS
Baku, October 4 (AZERTAC). The Pakistan Taliban has claimed responsibility for recent attacks in Pakistan on supply convoys carrying goods to NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The Pakistani arm of the terrorist group said Monday they intend to continue the attacks until the convoys are stopped.
Police say at least three people were killed and about 20 oil tankers were set afire in the latest attack along a supply route that Pakistani authorities had closed Thursday, apparently as a protest against a cross-border NATO air strike in Pakistan.
Authorities in Pakistan say three of their soldiers were killed during that NATO strike, which was aimed at militants fleeing from Afghanistan.
NATO`s chief expressed his regret Monday for the deaths of the Pakistani soldiers when he met with Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi at the alliance headquarters in Brussels. Anders Fogh Rasmussen also urged Pakistan to reopen the supply route as soon as possible.
On Sunday, Pakistan`s ambassador to the United States had indicated that the supply route would reopen this week.
The Torkham border crossing along the Khyber Pass is on one of the main NATO supply routes through Pakistan into Afghanistan, where more than 152,000 US and NATO forces are fighting a Taliban-led insurgency.
A sharp increase in attacks by unmanned planes flying over Pakistan and recent NATO border incursions have raised tensions between foreign forces and Islamabad.