NATO chief apoligizes, requests supply routes to re-open after recent attacks on oil tankers kill at least 4

[News_Editor]

NATO chief apoligizes, requests supply routes to re-open after recent attacks on oil tankers kill at least 4

2010-10-04 21:18:14 GMT+7 (ICT)

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (BNO NEWS) -- With two recent attacks on NATO supply tankers in Pakistan on Sunday night and Monday morning, at least 4 people have been reported killed, local media reported.

According to reports, another oil tanker was attacked in Pakistan's western Balochistan province, killing one person. This makes the fourth attack as the Taliban has claimed responsibility for two attacks.

At least three people were killed and seven other injured during a previous midnight attack that blazed over 20 tankers. The attack occurred in a large compound owned by a NATO supply contractor - Taj Afridi - along the GT Road outside the Defence Housing Authority’s Phase II.

The gunmen managed to escape while the injured were rushed to local hospitals.

Around 30 NATO oil tankers were destroyed by suspected militants in southern Pakistan during Friday's initial attacks. The tankers were on their way to Quetta from Karachi when a group of militants set the tankers on fire at a filling station.

On Thursday, Pakistan decided to block a NATO supply route into Afghanistan just hours after a NATO-led operation killed three Pakistani officials and wounded three others when U.S. helicopters struck a Mandato Khando post in Pakistan's Kurram district.

"We will have to see whether we are allies or enemies," Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik said after the air strike.

NATO's Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he had expressed regret of the incidents in which "Pakisani soldiers lost their lives" during a meeting with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in Brussels.

Rasmussen also expressed hope that the supply routes will promptly be reopened.

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