Gunmen ambush NATO supply convoy in Pakistan

PAKISTAN: Gunmen in the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi ambushed three vehicles carrying supplies for NATO forces in neighbouring Afghanistan on Thursday, injuring three people, police said.

The trucks were heading west out of the city when attackers opened fire, the latest in a string of raids on vehicles ferrying supplies across Pakistan’s restive frontier region to foreign troops battling the Taliban in Afghanistan.

“Four unknown armed men riding on two motorcycles opened fire and hurled hand grenades on NATO supply trucks in Baldia neighbourhood and escaped,” local police official Mohammad Ali told AFP.

He said two drivers and an assistant were wounded while the three trucks, headed for the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, were also damaged.

The 113,000-strong NATO and US-led force battling a worsening insurgency in landlocked Afghanistan is hugely dependent on Pakistan for supplies, with about 80 percent passing through the country.

The bulk of equipment required by foreign troops is shipped through Pakistan’s northwestern tribal region of Khyber, where Taliban militants frequently attack the convoys.

KARACHI, Friday, AFP