20 NATO fuel tankers torched in SW Pakistan

A group of gunmen opened fire on the tankers when the drivers were having dinner on roadside restaurants near Dera Murad Jamali in Balochistan province late Friday night, drivers said.

Ten tankers caught fire which later engulfed ten more tankers due to the late arrival of fire fighters, they said.

Witnesses said that the flames spread to a nearby restaurant and a tyre shop.

No one was hurt as the drivers and cleaners were out of the tankers at the time of the attack.

Drivers said that the gunmen had also been firing from time to time, which disrupted the efforts of the fire tenders to extinguish the blaze.

They alleged that the police arrived at the scene very late.

The attackers fled in their car and no group claimed responsibility for the attack.

Officials say that some 80 percent of the fuel, spare parts, and other non-lethal supplies for the U.S-led NATO forces in Afghanistan are transported through Pakistan after arriving in the southern port of Karachi.

Suspected Taliban frequently launch attacks on NATO supply trucks in Pakistan, forcing the U.S. and its allies to find alternate routes in Russia and Central Asian states to the landlocked Afghanistan, but the Pakistani route is the cheapest and the most nearest. Kazinform refers to Xinhua. See www.xinhuanet.com for full version