LANDI KOTAL, June 7: At least seven oil tankers, supplying fuel to Nato forces in Afghanistan, were destroyed in a bomb blast near Torkham border in Khyber Agency on Tuesday, sources said.

They said that the vehicles were parked at a parking lot near the border when a magnet bomb planted at a tanker exploded in the afternoon. The blast caused a huge fire, which engulfed six other oil tankers parked in the area.

“The fire was so huge that it was impossible for us to control it on time,” said a khadadar.

A local militant organisation Abdullah Ezzam Brigade claimed responsibility for the blast. A spokesperson for the group told Dawn by telephone from an undisclosed location that it was reaction to the killing of Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.

He said that attacks on vehicles would continue till supply to Nato forces in Afghanistan was completely stopped.

The incident is fourth of its kind in the same locality in less than a month period. About 43 oil tankers have been destroyed in these attacks.

Meanwhile, a banned organisation Ansaarul Islam claimed to have captured a would-be suicide bomber in Maidan area of Tirah valley on Tuesday.

Qari Mehbub, A spokesman for the group, told journalists by telephone that their volunteers arrested 20-years-old would-be suicide bomber identified as Kashif from a local seminary.

“Kashif belongs to Gul Zaman group of Taliban and hails from Shahu area of Orakzai Agency,” he added.

The claim could not be confirmed by other sources. Ansaarul Islam is locked in a fierce battle with its arch rival Lashkar-i-Islam in different parts of Tirah. Both the organisations have lost scores of volunteers in these clashes.