QUETTA: Frontier Corps personnel on Monday shot dead three men suspected of torching two Nato oil tankers and seriously wounding one of the drivers in Sibi district of Balochistan, a spokesman for the paramilitary forces said.

Khan Wasey, a spokesman for FC Balochistan said the forces conducted a search operation in Bakhtiarabad area of Sibi and killed three suspects following an exchange of fire. One of the suspects was arrested in an injured condition and was shifted to an undisclosed location, he said.

“The suspects also opened fire at FC during the operation,” Wasey added. He claimed the men had torched two tankers carrying fuel for US and Nato troops in the same area on Monday morning. “The dead are yet to be identified,” he said.

The driver of the one of tankers was also injured as result of firing.

“The two oil tankers were going to Afghanistan from Karachi when four gunmen riding two motorbikes intercepted them and torched them,” a senior local administration official, Bahadur Bangalzai said.

The tankers were set ablaze in Bala Nari area, 125 kilometres southeast of Quetta, the provincial capital.

The incident comes three days after a US drone strike killed Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud, prompting demands from opposition parties to close Nato supply lines in protest.

Bangalzai added that one of the drivers sustained serious injuries and was later shifted to hospital where his condition is serious.

Another senior local administration official Wasim Ahmad confirmed the incident.

There was no claim of responsibility for the incident.

The Balochistan government has placed all law enforcers on high alert to avoid occurrence of any untoward incident in the aftermath of Mehsud’s killing.

The Nato combat mission in Afghanistan is due to end next year. Pakistan and the United States have signed a deal allowing Nato supply convoys to travel into Afghanistan until the end of 2015.

—Syed Ali Shah contributed to reporting from Quetta.