NATO oil tankers attacked in Pakistan: officials

Gunmen on motorbikes attacked two tankers carrying oil for NATO forces in Afghanistan on Wednesday, setting the vehicles ablaze in Pakistan's restive southwest, officials said.

The attack took place near the town of Dadar in Bolan district, 90 kilometres (56 miles) southeast of Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, local tribal police official Abdul Aziz told AFP.

Unknown gunmen on motorbikes signalled the vehicles to stop and opened fire when the driver ignored them, Aziz said. There were no casualties, he added.

Local intelligence officials confirmed the attack.

NATO supply trucks and oil tankers are targets of frequent attacks in Pakistan blamed on insurgents attempting to disrupt supplies for the 140,000 US-led international troops fighting the Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan.

Most supplies and equipment required by coalition troops in Afghanistan are shipped through Pakistan, although US troops increasingly use alternative routes through central Asia.

Baluchistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, suffers Islamist militancy, sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shiite Muslims and an insurgency by rebels seeking political autonomy and a greater share of profits from natural resources.

Posted in: NEWS