Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Taliban Targeted U.S. Parking at Torkham Port

A number of suicide bombers early Wednesday morning attacked U.S. forces parking in Torkham port border area in Nangarhar province, local officials said. Noor Akbar, the Torkham police chief, said the incident occurred around 05:00am local time when four Taliban suicide bombers attacked a U.S. forces parking in Torkham port border area at Nangarhar province. The clash between U.S, Afghan forces and suicide bombers continued for four hours and ended around 08:30am local time, with smoke and fire coming from the parking, Akbar said.
"All four suicide bombers were gunned down by joint forces," Akbar said.
"One Afghan public protection police was killed and two were wounded," Akbar added.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement released to the media. The statement claimed that the attack had resulted in the destruction of supply vehicles as well as the deaths of dozens of foreign troops and "puppets," the name the Taliban often uses to describe members of the Afghan security forces. In a statement, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed the attack and said that no NATO personnel were killed.
This is the second attack by the Taliban on U.S parking in the Torkham area near the Pakistan border.
The first attack was when a group armed insurgents attacked a U.S. parking in the Torkham area four months ago on September 2. The attack involved a suicide bomb, rocket attacks and a protracted gun-battle that left the three attackers dead, dozens of fuel tanks and a supply vehicles destroyed and the Kabul-Jalalabad road closed for six hours. The attack took place three days after a suicide bomber targeted the National Directorate of Security (NDS) building in Torkham port on Sunday morning, wounding three NDS soldiers. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack yet. Torkham is one of the major border crossings between Afghanistan and Pakistan, located on the Durand Line border. It connects Nangarhar province of Afghanistan with Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

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