Militants on Wednesday fired rockets at a military garrison in Landikotal, injuring a soldier of the paramilitary Frontier Corps, and torched 12 trailers in another attack on a parking lot.Official and tribal sources said the militants fired several rockets and mortar shells from an unknown location at the Landikotal Cantonment area in the wee hours of Wednesday. A junior commissioned officer (Subedar) of the Frontier Corps was injured in the attack.
The Frontier Corps personnel retaliated with heavy artillery fire in the direction from where the rockets were fired. The firing continued for hours. Subsequently, the militants attacked a private parking lot and torched 12 empty trailers, which had arrived from Afghanistan, in the Khyber Sultankhel area of Landikotal.
The sources said a dozen masked men broke into the parking lot and overpowered the watchmen before setting ablaze 12 trailers. They sprinkled petrol on the trailers and torched them. Briefing media persons about the two attacks, Political Agent of the Khyber Agency, Tariq Hayat, said the Shinwari tribe had been fined Rs 20 million under the collective responsibility clause of the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) for the attack on Landikotal Cantonment.
The Shinwari tribe has called a grand Jirga to discuss the situation arising out of the announcement of fine by the authorities. Regarding the bridge blown up the other day, the political agent said to reconnect the Landikotal Tehsil with the rest of the country, a road had been made in a dry stream over which the old bridge was built. The road would remain operational till the reconstruction of the century-old bridge.
After remaining suspended for 24 hours, the supplies to Nato and the US troops operating in Afghanistan were also restored through the newly-constructed road.A press release of the ISPR said Army engineers were working round-the-clock to complete the repair work on Ali Masjid Bridge within the next 72 hours.
The Army engineers, with the help of the Frontier Corps, are working day and night to complete the repair work on the ancient 110-year-old and 48-metre-long steel bridge over a culvert near Ali Masjid, which was blown up by militants late Monday night. All the required construction material and heavy machinery have been sent to the site, it said.