Pakistan's foreign ministry yesterday announced the reopening of the main land route for Nato supplies crossing into Afghanistan from Torkham in the northwest "with immediate effect".

Torkham lies on the main Nato supply route to Afghanistan, where US and Nato forces are fighting a nine-year Taliban insurgency, and is vital to the Afghan war effort.

"After assessing the security situation in all its aspects, the government has decided to reopen the Nato/Isaf supply from the Pakistan-Afghanistan border at Torkham with immediate effect, ” the ministry said in a statement, referring to Nato's International Security Assistance Force.

"Our relevant authorities are now in the process of coordinating with authorities on the other side of the border to

ensure smooth resumption of the supply traffic."

Shafeerullah Khan, the top administration official in Khyber tribal region, told AFP: "We are currently waiting for the government's order about reopening of the border."

Pakistan closed the northwest crossing at Torkham on Sept 30, the same day a Nato air strike killed two Pakistani soldiers along the border. The US has apologized for that strike.

The Foreign Ministry statement said authorities on both sides of the border were working "to ensure smooth resumption of the supply traffic."

The delay had exposed stranded supply trucks to militant attacks.

Gunmen armed with a rocket torched 29 Nato oil tankers in southwestern Pakistan before dawn Saturday, the latest attack on the supply line for international troops in Afghanistan since Pakistani authorities closed a key border crossing amid a dispute with the United States.

Two responding police officers were wounded.

Local government official Abdul Mateen said the attack occurred in the area of Mithri, about 120 miles (200 kilometers) east of Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province. He said the attackers used guns and fired a rocket to destroy the tankers.

"We are facing problems in extinguishing the fire," hesaid.

Atleast 10 gunmen were involved in the attack, police official Jamil Khan said. The oil tankers were parked near a roadside restaurant.

When local police responded, the gunmen fired on them before fleeing. One officer was wounded by a bullet, while another suffered slight burns as he tried to stop the blaze, Mateen said.

The Pakistani Taliban have claimed responsibility for such previous attacks and have demanded that the government permanently bar Nato and the US from using its soil to transport supplies to Afghanistan.

The US has apologized for the cross-border helicopter strike, but Islamabad has yet to open the border crossing at Torkham. A smaller crossing in the southwest has stayed open.

An Interior Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said that the government has decided it will reopen the Torkham crossing, but that it had not yet decided when.