bin laden oil tankers

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bin laden oil tankers. Oil Truck Explosion Kills at Least 15 in Pakistan. ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — At least 15 people were killed when a damaged oil tanker carrying fuel for NATO forces in Afghanistan exploded Saturday in the northwestern tribal region, government officials said.The tanker was damaged when a bomb went off near a boys’ college in Landi Kotal in the tribal region of Khyber Agency. “Fire brigade officials put out the fire, but in the meantime, people from neighboring areas had gathered and were trying to take away the oil while another explosion took place, killing 15 people,” said Abdul Nabi, a local government official.
Two survivors were being treated for burns at the Landi Kotal Hospital.

Fuel prices in Pakistan, which are controlled by the government, have increased sharply in recent months, setting off protests and demonstrations across Pakistan. Local government officials said other oil tankers were crossing the border without interruption.


In a separate attack, 16 oil tankers were damaged on Friday night in the nearby town of Torkham, at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, when a remote-controlled bomb exploded, Mr. Nabi said.

No one was hurt. The tankers were idling at a parking lot, waiting for their turn to enter Afghanistan.

The attacks occurred just a day after a bomb aimed at a two-car convoy carrying American consular officials exploded in Peshawar. A Pakistani motorcyclist was killed, but no Americans died or were seriously injured. Officials have been bracing for attacks on Americans or United States assets since members of the Navy Seals killed Osama bin Laden.

On Friday, American officials said files belonging to Bin Laden and captured in the Seal raid had discussed the idea of hijacking oceangoing oil tankers and blowing them up at sea to create explosions that the Qaeda leader hoped would rattle the world’s economy and send oil prices skyrocketing.
The attacks on the trucks, however, follow a long-established pattern in Pakistan, where Taliban insurgents and criminals frequently attack vehicles carrying supplies for American and NATO troops.

The Abdullah Azzam Brigade, a militant group affiliated with the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for both the Friday and Saturday attacks.

Also, the opposition politician Imran Khan announced plans for a sit-in in the southern port city of Karachi on Saturday to protest the continuing drone attacks by the United States.

Mr. Khan, a former cricket player turned politician who has emerged as one of the most vocal opponents of the American policy of drone strikes in the country, has been consistently denouncing the attacks, calling them a violation of the country’s sovereignty. An earlier sit-in organized by his political party Tehreek-e-Insaaf, or Justice Party, in Peshawar in April, drew only a few thousand people, contrary to the expectations of the organizers.

Mr. Khan has said that through his protest on Saturday, his party workers plan to halt the NATO supplies for two days.
Source:nytimes