QUETTA: Gunmen attacked a convoy of Nato oil tankers in southwest Pakistan overnight, killing a driver and torching eight vehicles, local officials said yesterday.
The attackers fired rockets and bullets at the convoy of 15 oil tankers travelling from Pakistan’s main Arabian sea port of Karachi to landlocked Afghanistan.
The attack happened around 300 kilometres (190 miles) from Quetta, the capital of the insurgency-torn southwestern province of Baluchistan that borders Afghanistan and Iran.
“The gunmen attacked the convoy at a rest stop in Soorab town of Kallat district. They fired rockets and bullets on the convoy from both sides of the road,” police official Yousaf Reiki said.
“One Pakistani driver of a tanker died in the attack while eight tankers were burnt,” he added.
Senior administration official Muhammad Akbar confirmed the attack. There was no claim of responsibility but the Taliban have in the past said they carry out such attacks to disrupt supplies for US-led Nato troops fighting in Afghanistan.
The Nato combat mission is due to end next year. Pakistan and the United States have signed a deal allowing Nato supply convoys to travel into Afghanistan until the end of 2015.
AFP
