Taliban sets 400 fuel tankers on fire in Afghan capital

Taliban set fire more than 400 oil tankers, which they claimed were supplying foreign troops in Afghanistan, in an attack on the outskirts of Kabul, officials say

An overnight fire in a parking lot in the Afghan capital, destroyed more than 400 tanker trucks, a Kabul police spokesman said Saturday. ''The fire started Friday night in the Argandi area and was extinguished on Saturday around 10 a.m.,'' said Hasmatullah Stanikzai, the police spokesman.

"There were 650 tankers in the parking lot which provided logistic support for the Afghan forces."

A written statement by Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mucahid said that the group bombed the parking lot where there were vehicles providing logistic support for the Afghan and foreign security forces. The Taliban statement also said the attack killed a number of people and destroyed many tankers.

The police in Kabul launched an investigation into the attack.

On Wednesday, a suicide attack on a military bus, which reportedly took place near Kabul University, killed at least seven people and injured 16 others.

The Taliban was responsible for the attack, Mucahid said in a statement.

Power in Afghanistan is set to be transferred democratically for the first time in the country's history, from President Hamid Karzai to either Abdullah Abdullah or Ashraf Ghani, who ran in polls on 14 June.

The Independent Election Commission said on Tuesday that preliminary results, which were set to be announced today, will be delayed by several days as votes in nearly 2,000 polling stations are reviewed due to accusations of massive fraud.

Final results are expected on July 22.