Incident Report

Subject:              Oil Tanker goes up in flames after Taliban ambush.. Locals grab petrol cans and siphon off fuel

Date of Email report:   Mon 17/12/2012

Report Detail:

Blaze: The scavengers did not wait until the oil fire had died down before they collected their fuel bonanza

These extraordinary pictures show the continuing Taliban threat in Afghanistan - and the opportunistic spirit residents must show if they are to survive in the war-torn land. They depict the aftermath of an attack on an oil tanker today, apparently targeted by Taliban fighters while on its way to deliver fuel to NATO soldiers. While the vessel was still burning, locals lined up with buckets and jerrycans to siphon off oil and take it home. The tanker was ambushed on Saturday as it passed through Doshi district in Baghlan province, in the north of the country. A group of gunmen opened fire on the vehicle until it burst into flame and had to be abandoned.

Although the attackers have not been formally identified, locals apparently said that they were Taliban militants who had targeted the tanker in an effort to disrupt NATO's ongoing efforts to reconstruct the country's infrastructure while cracking down on terrorist attacks. 'Unidentified armed men targeted an oil tanker with assault rifle in Dushi district today morning, burning the oil tanker,' police spokesman Sayed Zaman Hussaini told Xinhua. He added that an investigation into the incident is currently under way.

Police were pictured guarding the damaged tanker and looking on as locals took fuel away from it. While the residents may have been taking advantage of the Taliban attack, it would be a mistake to conclude that they are necessarily anti-Western or pro-jihadist. Instead, like most Afghans, they are simply taking advantage of whatever situation prevails to help themselves and their family - often the only way to sustain a livelihood in the violent nation whose economy has been destroyed by decades of war. Despite the West's promise to withdraw all troops from the country by the end of 2014, the 11-year war has recently shown little sign of slowing down. A Pentagon report revealed this week that 2,700 civilians were killed during the 2012 fighting season - 93 per cent of them dead at the hands of the Taliban.

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