Pakistan militants hijack trucks

Trucks are often stopped by militants in broad daylight

Militants in north-west Pakistan have hijacked 12 trucks carrying supplies for Western forces in Afghanistan, a government official has said.

He said that the trucks were stopped as they travelled through the Khyber Pass.

Correspondents say that the road is a major supply route for US and other Western forces battling against the Taleban in neighbouring Afghanistan.

Hauliers say that over 350 trucks daily carry an average of 7,000 tonnes of goods over the Khyber Pass to Kabul.

A senior government administrator in the Khyber region told the Reuters news agency that the trucks were seized at four places along a 20-mile (35km) stretch of the road.

"About 60 masked gunmen popped up on the road and took away the trucks with their drivers. Not a single shot was fired anywhere," the official, Bakhtiar Mohmand, said.

Mr Mohmand said the trucks were not carrying weapons or ammunition, but it was not clear what other goods they were transporting.

He blamed the hijacking on militants loyal to the Taleban commander Baitullah Mehsud.

"Baitullah's men are behind this as they're very well-equipped and trained," he said.

'Silent spectator'

Security along the road leading to the border has deteriorated this year, correspondents say, with soldiers recently carrying out an offensive in the Khyber region to drive militants away from the outskirts of Peshawar, the main city in the north-west.

The militants sometimes pose for cameras after hijacking vehicles

Residents said that a pair of Pakistani army helicopter gunships flew over the area after the hijacking took place and fired some shots, killing a civilian.

Traders in the main town before the pass, Landikotal, complained that the government was not providing adequate security on the road.

"The government is a silent spectator," Eshtiar Mohmand, who owns a trucking company, told Reuters.

"They attack our trucks, loot them and kill our drivers in broad daylight, even near security check posts, but they can't do anything."

About 24 trucks and oil-tankers have been attacked in the past month, transport operators said.

Baitullah Mehsud profile

Last year, Sawab Khan, a member of the truckers' association, told the BBC that goods transported include supplies for Western forces fighting the Taleban, as well as supplies for non-governmental organisations, the government and Afghan traders.

Mr Khan said that in addition to the threat caused by militants, every truck pays about 400,000 Pakistani rupees (about $5,000) annually in taxes and bribes.

"This is too much for our transporters, who are mostly poor and hard-pressed to make both ends meet," he said.

Truckers who refuse to pay bribes are often made to park along the road and wait, sometimes for more than 24 hours, before they are allowed to move on, he said.

Some truckers also complain of extortion on the Afghan side of the border.

Supplies to the southern Afghan provinces of Kandahar and Herat pass through Quetta and across the Chaman border in the Balochistan province of Pakistan.

The truckers operating on this route say they confront fewer problems.