NATO convoy attacked by gunmen in Pakistan

GUNMEN have opened fire on a convoy carrying NATO supplies to Afghanistan, killing a driver.

The attack on Tuesday was the first since Islamabad ended its seven-month blockade of the route, a government official said.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Pakistani Taliban warned it would target the trucks after the Pakistan government reopened the supply line earlier this month.

Pakistan closed the route last November in retaliation for American air strikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, an incident the US said was a mistake but the Pakistani military claimed was deliberate.

Islamabad finally reopened the route after the US apologized for the deaths.

The gunmen targeted the trucks as they were passing near a bazaar in the town of Jamrud in the Khyber tribal area, said Faraz Khan, a local government official. Jamrud is close to Torkham, one of the two crossings used to transport NATO supplies to Afghanistan.

In addition to the dead driver, a second driver and his assistant were wounded, said Khan.

Suspected militants have destroyed hundreds of trucks and killed dozens of people in attacks on NATO convoys over the past decade. But the US military has said the attacks had not had a significant impact on the delivery of supplies to Afghanistan.

The US was keen to get the supply line through Pakistan reopened because during the closure it was forced to rely on a longer route into Afghanistan through Central Asia that cost an additional $US100 million a month.

The route between Afghanistan and the southern Pakistani port of Karachi will become even more important as the US and other countries accelerate their withdrawal from Afghanistan.