NATO supply trucks under fire in Pakistan

Two people were killed in northwest Pakistan after gunmen attacked four vehicles carrying NATO supplies for Afghanistan, according to officials.

The vehicles came under fire in the Jamrud area of Khyber Agency, one of seven districts that make up Pakistan’s semi- autonomous tribal belt.

“The four containers were on their way to Afghanistan when four gunmen riding two motorbikes opened fire at them in Jamrud, killing two helpers and wounding one driver and one helper,” Jehangir Azam Wazir, a senior local administration official, told AFP news agency.

Wazir added that one of the helpers died at the scene, while the second succumbed to his injuries in hospital.

No group has yet admitted responsibility, but the Taliban have in the past claimed such attacks to disrupt supplies for US-led international troops fighting in Afghanistan.

Frequent attacks

Pakistan is a major transit supply route for NATO’s mission in landlocked Afghanistan.

Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked fighters frequently launch attacks across northwest Pakistan and the lawless tribal belt, which Washington calls the most dangerous place in the world.

The Pakistani Taliban declared a month-long ceasefire on Saturday to encourage the resumption of peace talks with the government in Islamabad.

From November 2011 to July 2012, Pakistan shut its Afghan border to overland NATO traffic after botched US air raids killed 24 Pakistani troops.