Pakistan Militants Torch NATO Tankers

Pakistani officials say that suspected militants have torched tankers carrying supplies to Afghanistan for NATO forces on Friday, a day after three Pakistani troops died in a NATO air strike.

Pakistani authorities, furious over frequent space violations by NATO during the last week, have closed a supply route for NATO in Afghanistan.

Senior officials said that the attack on NATO tankers in Shikarpur, a city in southern Pakistan, was carried out by “extremists”.

Around 12 masked men fired shots in the air with small weapons to frighten away the truck drivers before setting fire to around 30 vehicles.

Three Pakistani troops were killed and three injured when NATO forces carried out cross-border air strikes to target militants in Kurram Agency in northwestern Pakistan on Thursday.

According to the Pakistani military, it was the third incident of such type in one week. NATO claims that its helicopters briefly entered Pakistan’s airspace after they were fired upon by people there.

Hours later, tankers carrying fuel for NATO were stopped by Pakistani authorities from crossing the Khyber region to go into Afghanistan.

Pakistan is a frontline ally of the US in its campaign to bring stability to Afghanistan, but analysts believe that border incursions and interruptions in NATO supplies highlight the growing tensions between the two.

The US has already intensified air strikes by unmanned drone planes on targets in Pakistan. According to a Pakistani intelligence official, border incursions can be described as a “red line" that can cause a "total snapping of relations".

Almost half of the entire cargo for NATO troops in Afghanistan passes through Pakistan, mostly via two major border crossings: Torkham and Chaman.