Pakistani security forces on Tuesday hunted insurgents who hijacked 13 trucks carrying military vehicles and other supplies to foreign forces in Afghanistan. Attacks are common against supply trucks that use the Khyber Pass in Pakistan's northwest to ferry supplies to the US and NATO troops, but Monday's raid was particularly brazen. Some 60 masked gunmen blocked the mountain route at several points, and assaulted the convoy of trucks, said Fazal Mahmood, an administration official for the Khyber tribal region. Local security forces traded fire with the gunmen but were forced to retreat. The militants took away the trucks along with the drivers. Mahmood blamed Pakistan's Taleban movement for the attack. “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. Helicopter gunships were dispatched to assist in the search in the rugged region. The US also has carried out missile strikes in Pakistan's northwest. On Monday, Pakistani President Asif Ail Zardari said he expected US President-elect Barack Obama to re-evaluate the need for such strikes, which generally target suspected Al-Qaida and Taleban hideouts on Pakistan's side of the Afghan border. Zardari said in an AP interview that the attacks, which had surged since August, hamper the fight against the militants – a campaign he said was succeeding nonetheless. The US missile attacks have killed some insurgents, but many of the dead have been civilians, stoking anger among locals. “We feel that the strikes are an intrusion on our sovereignty, which are not appreciated by the people at large, and the first aspect of this war is to win the hearts and mind of the people,” Zardari said.
