QUETTA, July 26: Thousands of litres of oil were wasted when armed men opened fire on a tanker near the border town of Chaman on Monday. The tanker was carrying fuel to Kandahar for US-led forces.

"A tanker came under heavy fire while passing through the Chaman bypass towards the border with Afghanistan," a local official said while confirming the incident. The driver, identified as Awal Khan, escaped unhurt, sources said, adding that 11 bullets had been fired on the tanker, due to which about 10,000 litres of oil were spilled.

The sources said a convoy comprising 60 oil tankers had started its journey in the early hours of Monday after an overnight stay near the Syed Hameed Bridge on the Quetta-Chaman road.

When the first vehicle reached the Chaman bypass, gunmen opened indiscriminate fire with automatic weapons. The attackers later escaped on a motorcycle. Other oil tankers which had not reached the Chaman bypass, remained safe, and later crossed into Afghanistan amid heavy security, the sources said.

Senior administration officials and law-enforcement personnel reached the place and the spill was contained by plugging the bullet holes in the tanker. Officials said so far nobody had claimed responsibility for the attack. It was the third incident of its kind in Chaman in one and a half months.