Taliban militants torch trucks along US-NATO supply line

Stepping up their attacks, nearly 150 Taliban militants on Monday stormed a supply terminal in northwest Pakistan and destroyed 11 trucks loaded with supplies for US and NATO forces in strife-torn Afghanistan, police said.

Stepping up their attacks, Taliban militants on Monday stormed a supply terminal in northwest Pakistan and destroyed 11 trucks loaded with supplies for US and NATO forces in strife-torn Afghanistan, police said.

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The militants, numbering nearly 150, used rocket launchers and petrol bombs to torch the trucks at the terminal in Peshawar, a police official said.

An ensuing gun battle with the militants wounded three security guards, media reports said.

Peshawar, the capital of the North-West Frontier Province, which intelligence officials say is rife with Islamic extremists and has been the site of recent clashes between Pakistani security forces and militants.

Because Afghanistan is landlocked, many supplies for NATO-led troops fighting Islamic militants in the area have to be trucked in from Pakistan through the legendary Khyber Pass.

Convoys carrying food and military supplies have regularly come under attack in the area, forcing the US to look for safer supply routes to Afghanistan.