LANDI KOTAL:  The crucial supply line for US and Nato forces in Afghanistan was disrupted on Tuesday when militants blew up an important bridge on the main Peshawar-Torkhum road.

Officials of the Khyber political administration said that the 30-meter long steel bridge was damaged by mid night blast and collapsed when a trailer loaded with cement was crossing it.

The bridge at Ali Masjid was built in British days and was one of the oldest bridges on Peshawar-Torkhum route.

Officials said that they were trying to build a diversion and restore traffic by Wednesday morning. An eye witness Ali Akbar told Dawn that hundreds of vehicles were stranded on both sides of the bridge.

The Khyber Agency Political Agent and officials of the Jamrud administration visited the site and called for efforts for early resumption of traffic.

‘We are making extra efforts to restore heavy traffic keeping in view the threat to fuel and other supplies to Nato forces in Afghanistan’ said Subedar Said Ali who is in-charge for building a diversion through the natural water channel under the bridge.

The bridge was blown up at a time when the military is waging the ‘Here I Come’ operation against militants in the area.

The operation launched on December 30 last year is aimed at flushing out militants from Khyber and securing the international supply route.

The blowing up of the bridge created immense hardship for local people who had to walk almost ten kilometers to move one side of the bridge to the other.

Local transporters exploited the situation and started fleecing people going from Ali Masjid to Peshawar or to Torkham border.