More NATO tankers torched in Pakistan

Seven NATO oil tankers have gone up in flames and a truck driver has been killed in another militant attack in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan.
The incident took place on Monday after unidentified armed men attacked the tankers in the town of Dadar in Bolan district, located about 90 kilometers (56 miles) southwest of the provincial capital, Quetta, AFP reported.
The vehicles were returning from the closed Afghan border to the southern port city of Karachi when they came under attack. A truck driver was killed in the incident.
“Around eight gunmen approached the convoy on motorcycles in Bolan district, ordered it to stop and started firing on the tankers,” senior local police official Inayat Bugti said.
He added, “A driver of one of the tankers was also hit by a bullet and was killed instantly. The attackers later put the tankers on fire and escaped.”
Police cordoned off the area after the attack and launched a search operation to arrest the perpetrators.
No group has claimed responsibility for the act of violence, yet.
Pakistan, enraged by the US-led NATO attacks that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers on November 26, has closed the border crossings that are used to transfer supplies for the US-led forces in landlocked Afghanistan.
The US military and NATO rely heavily on the Pakistani supply routes into Afghanistan, more so now that militant attacks are increasing in the war-torn Asian country.
Until now, supplies would arrive by sea in Karachi, from where they would travel in long, exposed convoys, through Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northwest Pakistan.
Other routes, largely through Russia and the Central Asian states, have proved to be too costly, both politically and economically.
Militants in the rugged tribal areas have staged violent attacks in recent months, torching hundreds of NATO vehicles and containers destined for foreign troops in Afghanistan.

Source: Press TV