Peshawar: Gunbattle between NATO and militants

Lahore, Jan 13: A terminal storing NATO supplies in Peshawar came under rocket fire as security forces expanded a military operation to Landikotal tehsil of Khyber Agency.

Unidentified assailants fired six rockets at the terminal on Pusht Khera Road, a private TV channel reported on Monday, Jan 12.

Security personnel deployed to protect the terminal retaliated and the ensuing gun battle lasted for almost half an hour, but there were not casualties.

Meanwhile in Khyber Agency, the security forces targeted the houses of a Taliban supporter and a criminal, said an official source.

The political administration has also warned eight other tribesmen supporting terrorists and criminals to surrender.

Earlier, Pakistan had reopened the main supply route for the US and NATO troops in Afghanistan after blocking it for three days during an operation against militants blamed for repeated attacks on convoys in the Khyber Pass.

News reports said residents in the towns of Landi Kotal and Jamrud, which is located along the route, confirmed the movement of NATO supply convoys toward the Afghan border and the Afghan capital of Kabul.

So far, more than 200 people, most of them Taliban members and 'criminals', have been arrested in the Khyber Agency.

The Khyber Pass, an ancient, three-mile pass that links Pakistan to Afghanistan through the Hindu Kush mountain range, has traditionally been a key route into Afghanistan.

The route's closure had forced NATO and US forces to use air and other land routes to deliver supplies to troops in Afghanistan.

ANI