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Pakistan closes Nato supply route

Operation launched against militants

AFP, Peshawar
Pakistan yesterday cut off supplies to Nato and US forces in Afghanistan via the Khyber Pass as security forces launched a major operation against militants there, an official said.
The operation comes after a series of spectacular raids by suspected Taliban militants on foreign military supply depots in northwest Pakistan earlier this month in which hundreds of Nato and US-led coalition vehicles were destroyed.
Pakistani security forces sent tanks, helicopter gunships and artillery units into tire lawless Khyber tribal region on the Afghan border before dawn, the area's administrator Tariq Hayat told reporters In Peshawar.
"We have launched an operation against militants and armed groups in
Jamrud," the gateway to the Khyber Pass, Hayat said.
The main highway linking Peshawar to the border town of Torkham has been shut down until the operation is complete, he said, adding: "Supplies to Nato forceshave temporarily been suspended."
I leavy cannon fire was heard in Jamrud, residents told AFP Helicopter gunships shelled suspected militant hideouts, local security officials said, adding that troops had encountered little resistance.
Hayat said earlier that three people had been injured, including a security official.
"This is a giant operation. It will continue until we achieve our objective," he said, adding that the operation could be expanded beyond the area near Jamrud --located between Peshawar and Torkham --if necessary.
The Khyber tribal area official said the operation was aimed at putting a stop to attacks on Nato supply vehicles, as well as a spate of kidnappings for ransom in the tribal badlands, where Taliban and al-Qaeda militants are active.
Troops had already seized a large quantity of arms and ammunition in a raid on a warehouse in Jamrud, Hayat said, adding that a complete curfew had been imposed on the area, with paramilitary troops patrolling the streets.
No arrests had yet been reported, but Hayat said: "We will start rounding up people if necessary."
The bulk of the supplies and equipment required by Nato and US-led forces battling the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan is shipped to Pakistan's largest port, Karachi, in the south.