Militants seize supplies meant for US-led forces

US aid official gunned down in separate attack

PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Suspected Taliban fighters hijacked trucks carrying Humvees and other supplies for US-led troops in Afghanistan, authorities said yesterday after a brazen attack near Khyber Pass that underscored the militants' grip across key mountain strongholds.

In a separate attack today in nearby Peshawar, gunmen shot dead a US aid official along with his driver as he left his home, a senior police official said. The attack occurred in a neighborhood favored by diplomats and foreign aid workers.

"As he was coming out of his home, the attackers opened fire," the police official, who requested anonymity, told Reuters. "He was working for US aid projects for tribal areas."

US Embassy officials in Islamabad were not immediately available for comment. No other details, including the man's name, were released.

Yesterday's hijacking of the trucks highlighted the vulnerability of a vital supply route for the 65,000 US and NATO forces battling a resurgent Taliban in landlocked Afghanistan. A significant amount of supplies for the Western forces go through Pakistan.

Attacks on convoys carrying food, fuel, and other supplies are common on the road. But Monday's raid was especially large and well organized. It also could further strain US-Pakistani relations over rooting out Taliban and Al Qaeda militants along the border, who remain entrenched despite military offensives and US missile strikes.

Some 60 masked militants blocked the route at several points before overpowering the convoy, said Fazal Mahmood, a government official in Khyber tribal region. He identified the attackers as members of Pakistan's Taliban movement.

Security forces traded fire with the gunmen, but were forced to retreat, he said. The militants took about 13 trucks along with the drivers, who were believed to be Pakistani.

A US military spokesman in Afghanistan confirmed the thefts yesterday.

"There were some US military materials that were taken - Humvees and water tank trailers," said Major John Redfield.

Later Monday, a separate group of insurgents halted a truck carrying what appeared to be a NATO jeep, setting the military vehicle on fire, Mahmood said. NATO officials could not immediately be reached for comment on that attack.

In the past, US and NATO officials have played down their losses along the pass.

But earlier this year, NATO said it was trying to reduce its dependence on the route by negotiating with Russia and other nations to let it truck "nonlethal" supplies to Afghanistan through Central Asia.

Security forces, backed by helicopter gunships, hunted for the missing trucks and drivers. The military said it had recovered some of the stolen materials but would not specify what.

"We are using all resources to trace and recover the hijacked trucks, some of which were carrying vehicles for the allied forces in Afghanistan," Mahmood said.

Most of the supplies for US and other foreign troops in Afghanistan arrive by ship at Pakistan's port of Karachi in unmarked containers. They are then taken by colorfully decorated trucks to places like Bagram Air Base, north of Kabul, the Afghan capital.

Meanwhile yesterday, a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a stadium hosting athletes from around the country, killing at least three people and wounding 17 while narrowly missing some top government leaders, officials said.