Four Humvees of Nato forces torched in Khyber

PESHAWAR: Unidentified gunmen on Friday attacked a convoy on the Frontier Road in Bara and set on fire four Humvees of the Afghanistan-based Nato forces being transported on two trailers.

Officials said the attack on the convoy happened early in the day in Jalandhar Killay in Bara tehsil of Khyber district, sited close to Peshawar. However, no casualty was reported in the attack.

“The convoy came under attack in a deserted place. Three armed men riding a motorbike set on fire the four Humvees loaded on two trailers on the Frontier Road in Bara district,” Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Mohammad Ali Gandapur told The News.

The Humvees are military vehicles used by the US-led Nato forces in Afghanistan. The attack was the first in its kind in more than a year as the last incident had occurred in July 2019 when a Nato driver was injured in firing by unidentified attackers in Khyber district.

There were innumerable attacks on Nato convoys on way to Afghanistan via Peshawar and Khyber from 2008 to 2014. The attacks had accelerated in the years 2009-10 and 2011. A number of drivers, helpers and civilians were killed or injured in the attacks. Several trucks carrying supplies for Nato forces were also bombed or set on fire when the militancy was at its peak in the erstwhile Fata, which was merged with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in May 2019.

A number of the attacks were carried out on the Ring Road in Peshawar and on the Peshawar-Jalalabad Highway in Khyber district as well as parts of Balochistan. However, the law and order situation improved after the security forces purged the area of militants in the wake of military operations in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.