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| Afghanistan |
| No injuries as bombs damage U.S. supply tankers |
| 2002-06-16 |
| Two small bombs attached to Pakistani gasoline tanker trucks that supply U.S. troops exploded early Sunday, causing slight damage but no injuries, police said. Local government officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they suspect that al-Qaida or Taliban supporters may have been responsible for the blast at the gas station near the U.S. base at Kandahar airport. They said the attackers may have planned to detonate the bombs as the trucks entered the heavily defended air base, about 6 miles from the gas station. They've recently hit on the idea of the little boom that makes a big boom... Gas station owner Haji Akhter Mohammad said that someone had fired a rocket at the fuel trucks and gas station a week ago, but the missile missed and blew up in the desert. But it looks like the guys who actually know how to use explosives must have left town, probably back in December... The owners of the Arianna gas station speculated opposing business interests could have been responsible for the blasts. There is that possibility. This is Afghanistan, after all. Did they fire the rockets, too? The Pakistani drivers of seven tanker trucks parked at the gas station were taken into custody for questioning at the base and released at noon. The truckers, who had driven across the border from the Pakistani city of Quetta, were carrying fuel from the Pakistani State Oil Company. "It was a loud noise, I couldn't hear for five or 10 minutes. I'm glad the fuel did not explode," said driver Bali Ustad, 26. I'll bet you are! He said the drivers were sleeping in their trucks when the first explosion occurred around 1:30 a.m. The second went off 15 minutes later. The truckers said they were angry that U.S. military officials had bound, hooded and detained them for questioning. "All night they questioned us. We were sleeping inside the truck. In the night someone came and put the bomb," Ustad said. "If we put the bomb, why should we take the risk when we are sleeping inside?" Ummm... Lemme think... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |