22 NATO supply trucks destroyed in Afghanistan

Black smoke risers from burning NATO supply trucks in Samangan, north of Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, July 18, 2012. / AP Photo/Javed Basharat

Updated at 3 p.m. ET

(AP) KABUL, Afghanistan - The Taliban detonated a bomb on a fuel tanker Wednesday and then opened fire on other NATO supply trucks, destroying 22 vehicles loaded with fuel and other goods for U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan.

Elsewhere in the country, a suicide bomber killed three Afghan soldiers at a checkpoint in the east, while militants killed nine more government troops in an ambush in the south. Three NATO service members were also killed in insurgent attacks.

The violence comes as Afghan forces are taking charge of security in more areas across the country ahead of the planned withdrawal of the U.S.-led coalition's combat forces by the end of 2014. To show they remain a resilient force, insurgents are conducting targeted attacks, even in relatively peaceful parts of the country.

Special Section: Afghanistan, The Way Forward
Afghan commander among 23 dead in blast
IEDs becoming less deadly in Afghanistan

One of the places is Samangan province in the north, where the Taliban said they attacked NATO supply trucks parked overnight in the Rabatak area.

"We put explosives on a fuel tanker. When it exploded, we fired on the trucks," Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told The Associated Press by telephone.

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

Hours later, plumes of thick black smoke still billowed from the area, and firefighters were spraying water on the burning vehicles.

"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, who was 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.

Earlier this week, militants destroyed three NATO supply trucks in Sayd Abad district of Wardak province in eastern Afghanistan.

Convoy traffic in the east has increased since Pakistan reopened its border crossings about two weeks ago. Islamabad blocked NATO supply trucks for seven months in retaliation for U.S. airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.

In the suicide blast in the east, a man wearing an Afghan army uniform blew himself up at a checkpoint in Logar province, killing three Afghan troops, said provincial spokesman Din Mohammad Darwesh. The Taliban issued a statement claiming responsibility for the attack in Baraki Barak district. Two other Afghan soldiers and a translator were wounded.

The Helmand provincial governor's office said the Afghan soldiers died when armed militants attacked an Afghan National Army checkpoint in Washer district. Seven insurgents were killed in the attack, the governor's office said. Insurgents also clashed Tuesday night with Afghan police in Nad Ali district. An insurgent commander was killed and six other militants were captured during the battle, the governor's office said.

Insurgents are trying to regain territory they lost during the past two years when tens of thousands of U.S., NATO and Afghan forces routed them from their strongholds in the south.

NATO said two service members were killed in a roadside bombing Wednesday in the east, while another died Tuesday in an insurgent attack in the south. So far this year, 240 coalition service members have been killed in Afghanistan, including at least 172 Americans.

Also Wednesday, NATO also said a coalition helicopter crashed in the west, injuring two other service members. No other information has been released about the crash, which is under investigation.

[mysteriousjz]

President Ronald Reagan, honoring Afghan "freedom fighters" at the White House in 1983: "The Afghan Mujaheddin are the moral equivalent of the Founding Fathers of America."
---------
"To watch the courageous Afghan freedom fighters battle modern arsenals with simple hand-held weapons is an inspiration to those who love freedom."
- U.S. President Ronald Reagan, March 21, 1983

[TimeToEvolve]

Nice, well said and so true. What has changed?

[TimeToEvolve]

I think that we have become the terrorist in all this. We are the invading army and the occupiers. The Afghanis who are much smarter than Americans apparently know that this was all about big corporate profits which is what all the Western wars are about now. We really don't make much else that people want.

[FP1970]

Afghanistan is a lost cause. The important thing is to safeguard N. American and W. Europe by putting an immediate end to all new immigration from 3rd world societies and deporting all known Islamists living among us. If we let the Taliban pigs build up their strength in the West through immigration, it's the end of our civilization.

[TimeToEvolve]

Are they going to ride their camels over to us. Or maybe they will use their navy of rowboats. Or their air force. Please.

[ericthefool]

Wow, you are quite the moron. Maybe we should just deport people like you, so there will never be war again.

[fastdraw2]

22 trucks. Fairly big trucks. No one checked the route? No one in an advance patrol to clear the way? No drone overhead patrolling the route? With all the people and equipment and crap we have over there how can that many trucks be destroyed by what had to be several attackers?

[morham]

Very Good Point!

[ericthefool]

Its all about money! Now they just buy more trucks and bill the sheep of America.

[GeorgeKafantaris]

The Taliban just blew up 22 trucks and caused a four million dollar loss. It also caused more hardship to the ordinary people of Afghanistan.
Those who are cheering the destruction of our trucks with their vital cargo should note that we had left our roads in disrepair, our classrooms overcrowded and our fire departments empty to set aside money to rebuild the faraway places forsaken by others.
We don't mind the sacrifice to do this, but we do mind the ingratitude.
And we intend to do something about it -- not only against the Taliban savages, but also against all others who support them.
You can take that to the bank.

[jnostromo]

Nothing will be done...Too many Americans today are scared little rabbits, not like the greatest generation.

[ericthefool]

You've commented on about 15 sites with the same garbage. Guaranteed you are a chicken hawk who never served a day in his life. Guaranteed Republican. Guaranteed moron.

[IPonUall]

They were set up.
We want them to destroy the tankers.
We want to have an excuse for war.
When I say we, I mean the military industrial complex that depends on our taxes to maintain a war with profits.

[ericthefool]

Don't forget about buying more trucks and billing the American public. It's good financial sense.

[TimeToEvolve]

What do we expect the people of Afghanistan to do? Stand by while occupying invaders are trying to steal their resources for the giant corporations?

[IPonUall]

They technically aren't steeling, they are securing the routes for the Wall Street crowd...We pay for the resources.

[jnostromo]

You cannot fight when your hands are tied.

[realtimecoffee]

Thank god we were able to get the supply routes open, the Taliban were getting bored.

[Big-Daddy-Kahuna]

This war CANNOT be won!

[akibeel]

I'm pretty sure winning isn't and hasn't been the goal.
On another note,me wonders how the Taliwackers got the bomb on the fuel truck? Was the truck fueled in Pakistan?

[ericthefool]

akibeel, you seriously believe this garbage? So, tell me how they know it was the Taliban, since no one was captured. Tell me, oh smart one, how no one was killed. Tell me, oh smart one, who will pay for these trucks? Come on bro, use some logic and reasoning.