Taliban attack two shipping terminals in Peshawar

The Taliban destroyed 14 trucks transporting supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan in the latest in a series of attacks on the Coalition’s logistical supply line through Pakistan.

The first attack took place at the Bilal Terminal on Peshawar’s Ring Road last evening when a Taliban force fired rocket-propelled grenades and lobbed “petrol bombs” at trucks in the terminal. Two US military trucks were destroyed, Dawn reported.

The second attack took place later that night at the World Logistic Terminal. Taliban forces “rained rockets” on the terminal, according to Geo News. Twelve trucks carrying supplies for NATO forces were set ablaze during the attack. Taliban forces clashed with police after the attack, but no casualties were reported.

Last night’s attacks mark the fifth time Taliban forces attacked the shipping terminals on Peshawar’s Ring Road. More than 200 NATO military vehicles and supply trucks were destroyed during three attacks outside of Peshawar on Dec. 7 and 8. In one of the attacks, more than 200 Taliban fighters overwhelmed the security guards and rampaged through the Portward Logistic Terminal, destroying more than 100 NATO vehicles.

The attacks occurred despite promises from the Pakistani government that the convoys would be protected by military personnel. The senior superintendent of Peshawar police said his men are unable to provide security at the terminals because the police are too busy attempting to secure the city proper.

“It’s time for the federal government and NATO forces to come forward and devise a strategy to improve security at these terminals because police are already overstretched because of the law and order situation,” police chief Kashif Alam said.

NATO and US spokesmen downplayed the attacks earlier this week, with one describing the Taliban’s efforts to choke the supply lines as “militarily insignificant.” More than 70 percent of NATO supplies destined for Afghanistan move through Peshawar.

Leader of Peshawar attacks reported captured

Pakistani security officials claimed the mastermind of the attacks on NATO convoys has been captured, but the reports are unconfirmed.

Sources told Daily Times that a Taliban leader named Yahya Hijrat, who is also known as Mustafa Kamal, was captured along the Ring Road. Hijrat was a district governor in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province during the Taliban rule, the news outlet reported. Hijrat commands Taliban forces in the Khyber tribal agency and is a senior lieutenant of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud.

Police Chief Alam denied Hijrat was captured, however.

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.

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3 Comments

  • gerry says:

    Lets face it, Pakistani generals and Police Chiefs are stealing every penny given to them to provide security for the vehicle parks. Consequently, few if any guards are available, and little protection of US assets are given. Its called git while the gittin is good.

  • sanman says:

    As I said before, the US needs to seize and liberate Baluchistan. The military port of Gwadar could serve as a vital supply corridor to Southern Afghanistan, and would be beyond the reach of Pakistani blackmail. Baluchistan is far from the main centers of Pakistani military power, and so it would be easy to keep the Pakistanis at bay, especially if the Indians collaborated in tying down Pakistan’s main military forces on the Indian border and the Indian navy blockaded Pakistan’s main port of Karachi.
    I liked Ralph Peters’ essay Blood Borders in the Armed Forces Journal. The Baluchi rebels are secular and are opposed to the Islamists that Pakistan uses to keep them on the ropes. I also feel that Baluchistan would be a useful springboard for pressuring an Iran that’s about to go nuclear. And finally, Baluchistan’s position near the Straits of Hormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf would help the US to keep a vital strategic chokepoint under its control. Pakistan wants to link Gwadar to China.
    The US could kill many birds with one stone, by seizing Baluchistan.

  • UJMi says:

    And the idea of being an “ally” includes balkanizing the “friendly frontline state”?

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