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Sunday, August 7, 2011

Peshawar attack: Over a Dozen NATO Tankers Destroyed

PESHAWAR: More than a dozen Nato tankers caught fire following a blast in a container terminal in the Ring Road area late on Saturday, police said.

The blast took place inside an oil tanker at around 9pm, parked inside the container terminal located in the southern outskirts of the city.

A police source informed The Express Tribune that the blast took place in the Fauji Logistics, where at least 55 tankers were parked when the fire broke out.

The source added that around 30 of these tankers had caught fire and only 15 could be taken to a safer place.

SSP Operations Ijaz Ahmed however, while talking to reporters, put the number of vehicles at 13, including 11 containers and two oil tankers. No casualties were reported in the incident.

The source quoting tanker drivers said a tanker had arrived a day earlier in the yard following which its chassis was taken out and the vehicle exploded.

He added that the 15 vehicles taken to the safer side however could not be taken out of the area since the raging fire prevented the rescue teams from doing so.

He also said it was very difficult for the rescue teams to contain the flames, since fire was spreading from one tanker to another. He said most drivers and cleaners also fled away from the scene following the incident.

Fire-fighting efforts were still being carried out till the filing of this report.

Ring Road has witnessed the worst attacks on Nato supplies in 2008 and early 2009, when militants destroyed hundreds of Nato tankers, Humvee armoured carriers and other vehicles in several raids. Following these attacks most of the terminals were forced out of the city.

Last month, police in Nowshera district had detained tanker drivers on charges of sabotaging the vehicles.

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