Taliban kill two Pakistani truckers in southern Afghanistan
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-06-08 17:36

Taliban rebels said they had attacked a civilian convoy of trucks in southeastern Afghanistan, killing two Pakistani drivers supplying the US-led military.

The drivers, who were transporting fuel for coalition forces in the southern province of Kandahar, died late Tuesday after rebels attacked their convoy as it left a US base, General Abdul Razaq, a border regiment commander, told AFP on Wednesday.

"It was the work of the Taliban -- they're the enemies of Afghanistan," Razaq said.

Abdul Latif Hakimi, a purported Taliban spokesman, claimed responsibility for the killings on behalf of the rebels, saying that anyone working for the United States would be targetted.

"We killed the drivers," he told AFP by satellite phone from an unknown location. "We will continue to attack those who supply Americans -- we've got to cut off the Americans' supply routes," Hakimi said.

Suspected Taliban guerrillas have stepped up attacks in recent months and often target Pakistani trucks which supply fuel and goods for the 18,000-strong US-led coalition in the war-ravaged country.

An American-led force toppled the Taliban three and half years ago after the militia refused to hand over Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden following the September 11 attacks on the United States.

More than 350 people, many of them militants, have died in Taliban-related and political violence this year, most of them in southern and eastern Afghanistan.

The Afghan government said Tuesday that a mosque bombing which killed 21 people in Kandahar city and a rocket attack on a US aircraft, both on June 1, marked the start of a Taliban and Al-Qaeda plot to derail upcoming elections.

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