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Taliban blow up Nato truck terminals Published: December 08, 2008 Taliban blow up Nato truck terminals PESHAWAR â€" Over 200 Taliban militants burnt to ashes as many as 169 vehicles including 64 bulletproof cars parked in two main supply terminals from where all materials are regularly supplied to the US-led Nato forces based in Afghanistan. The watchman identified as Salman, hailing from Charsadda, was killed in the incident. Police and locals said that the incident occurred during wee hours of Sunday at Al-Faisal Terminal and Port World Terminal near Pishtakhara area of Peshawar. The attackers first rocketed the main gate of the terminal and later set all the vehicles ablaze, the police and locals said. Police said Al-Faisal Terminal housed 63 vehicles including two bulletproof, 39 dumpers and 23 military trucks. Whereas at Port World Terminal some 106 vehicles including 62 bulletpoof, dumpers and fire-brigade vehicles were damaged. The police further informed the media that the vehicles and materials were to be supplied to Afghanistan in or after the Eid. They said that actual damage could not be calculated so far. The watchman, who was killed in the incident, has been identified as Salman. No person or group has so far claimed responsibility of the incident. This is the third incident of the kind during the recent past in Peshawar. Earlier, supplies of different materials to Nato were used to go through Torkham border of Khyber Agency, however, the route was changed after the volatile situation in the region. Agencies add: More than 200 Taliban militants launched a pre-dawn raid Sunday on two NATO terminals, police said. The militants surrounded the terminals outside Peshawar and disarmed about a dozen security guards before dousing the trucks in petrol and setting them alight. Police described the attack, in which one guard was shot and killed and two armoured vehicles were also destroyed, as the biggest of its kind so far. “This is the first time the militants came in such large number,” senior police officer Abdul Qadir Qamar told AFP, calling it a ‘coordinated and well-planned attack’. The insurgents, who had stolen the petrol from a nearby gas station, fled when police arrived at the scene, Qamar added. One security official said they had struck as police were busy investigating Friday’s huge bomb blast in Peshawar that killed 36 people and wounded 120 others. “It was also a weekend and security was relatively relaxed because of Eid vacations,” the official said. The trucks were loaded with supplies bound for Afghanistan, where NATO forces are battling a growing Taliban insurgency. Taliban- and Al-Qaeda-linked militants have in the past attacked oil tankers and trucks on their way to Afghanistan. Sunday’s raid came less than a week after Taliban militants destroyed another dozen trucks in Peshawar containing supplies for NATO troops in Afghanistan, killing two people in the process. Qamar said the number of guards at the terminal had been increased in the wake of that attack, but they were overwhelmed by the sheer number of militants. “We are preparing a new strategy to prevent such incidents in future,” he added. Pakistan last month barred delivery of sealed containers and oil tankers through the Khyber Pass for a week after Taliban fighters in the rugged lawless area hijacked 15 trucks destined for Afghanistan and looted the vehicles. NATO has around 50,000 troops in Afghanistan and the pass is a lifeline for the force. Pakistan’s army chief vowed last month to keep the supply line to Afghanistan open, reaffirming support for the alliance’s mission there. NATO said on Monday the earlier attack had not substantially affected the alliance’s operations in Afghanistan, but that it was looking at alternative routes to the Khyber Pass.