Gunmen torch two Nato fuel tankers in Balochistan

Unidentified men intercepted oil tankers en route to Afghanistan.

QUETTA: Gunmen attacked and torched two Nato oil tankers, seriously wounding one of the drivers in Pakistan's troubled southwest on Monday, officials said.

The incident took place in Bala Nari area, 125 kilometres (77 miles) southeast of Quetta, the capital of oil and gas rich insurgency-torn Balochistan province that borders Afghanistan and Iran.

It comes three days after a US drone strike killed Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud, prompting demands from opposition parties to close NATO supply lines in protest.

"The two oil tankers were going to Afghanistan from Karachi when four gunmen riding two motorbikes intercepted them at Bala Nari and torched them," a senior local administration official, Bahadur Bangalzai said.

He added that one of the drivers sustained serious injuries and later shifted to hospital where his condition is serious.

Another senior local administration official Wasim Ahmad confirmed the incident.

There was no claim of responsibility but the Taliban have in the past said they carry out such attacks to disrupt supplies for US-led Nato troops fighting in Afghanistan.

The Nato combat mission is due to end next year. Pakistan and the United States have signed a deal allowing Nato supply convoys to travel into Afghanistan until the end of 2015.