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July 19, 2012

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Taliban destroy 22 NATO supply trucks

THE Taliban said they detonated a bomb on a fuel tanker yesterday and then opened fire on other NATO supply trucks in a morning attack that destroyed 22 vehicles loaded with fuel and other goods for US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan.

In western Afghanistan, a NATO helicopter crashed, injuring two troops serving with the US-led military coalition, NATO said. The helicopter went down early yesterday at an undisclosed location in the relatively peaceful west. No other information has been released about the crash, which is under investigation.

The Taliban said they attacked NATO supply trucks parked overnight in Samangan province in the north.

"We put explosives on a fuel tanker. When it exploded, we fired on the trucks," Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a telephone call.

Sidiq Azizi, a spokesman for the province, said many tankers and semi-trailers caught fire after the bomb went off around 2am.

"There was a big boom," Azizi said. "It's possible that is was a magnetic bomb from insurgents. We are investigating."

"I counted 20 fuel tankers burning. There is still a very big fire," said Azizi at the scene. "The weather is very hot and it's hard to get close to the fire."

The tankers in the convoy were transporting fuel south toward the Afghan capital, Kabul, from neighboring Uzbekistan to the north.

Separately, NATO reported two coalition troops have been killed - one Tuesday during an insurgent attack in the south and another yesterday in a roadside bombing in the east.

The troops' nationalities have not yet been released.

So far this year, 239 coalition service members have been killed in Afghanistan, including at least 172 Americans.

 

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