Gunmen torch NATO supply vehicles in Pakistan

QUETTA, PAKISTAN: Gunmen in Pakistan on Sunday set ablaze four vehicles carrying supplies for NATO troops in Afghanistan, officials said.

Two vehicles were attacked in the town of Mungochar, in Qalat district in the southwestern province of Baluchistan, local administration chief Khuda Bakhsh said.

"The attackers, riding on two motorbikes, opened fire, forcing the containers to stop, and ordered the drivers to leave the vehicles. They later sprinkled petrol and set the vehicles on fire," the official told AFP by phone.

A security official also confirmed the attack. He said there were no casualties and there were thought to be four attackers, all of whom fled on motorcycles.

In another incident, gunmen in the northern district of Talagang near the capital Islamabad torched two oil tankers transporting fuel for NATO operations in Afghanistan, local police officer Saleem Akhtar told AFP by telephone.

"Unknown gunmen torched two oil tankers in a pre-dawn attack and escaped," Akhtar said, adding an investigation had been launched.

There was no claim of responsibility but the Taliban have mounted similar attacks to avenge US drone strikes on militants in Pakistan's northwest and to protest against the US-led operations in Afghanistan.

Baluchistan, which borders both Iran and Afghanistan, is also experiencing Islamist militancy, sectarian violence between majority Sunnis and minority Shiite Muslims, and a separatist insurgency.

Baluch rebels are demanding political autonomy and a greater share of profits from natural resources.