ISLAMABAD, Nov 13: The UN World Food Programme on Thursday expressed concern over an increase in the looting of humanitarian food supplies in northwestern Pakistan, saying it was hurting the poor.

Some 900 tons of edible oil and wheat were looted in the NWFP in three incidents last month, it said in a statement.

The UN agency said that it was “greatly concerned over rapidly increasing losses of humanitarian food aid destined for the undernourished population” of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Landlocked Afghanistan depends on Pakistan for its supplies from overseas.

Suspected Taliban-linked militants in Pakistan have burnt several oil tankers carrying fuel for coalition forces based in Afghanistan and attacked goods trucks in the past.

“In three different incidents over 900 tons of wheat and edible oil with a value of approximately $1 million were lost to armed assaults in NWFP,” the World Food Programme (WFP) statement said.

There has been a surge in violence in the province in recent months blamed on Taliban militants who fled across the border following the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. Pakistani troops have increased operations in tribal areas bordering Afghanistan to root out militants.

“The deteriorating security situation in NWFP is hampering WFP’s ability to provide much needed food assistance for the poor in Pakistan and Afghanistan,” WFP country director Wolfgang Herbinger said.

“We are very concerned that people who are already hard hit by food shortages and rising prices are additionally deprived due to such incidents.” The WFP said it lost 11 trucks carrying 441 tons of wheat to Afghanistan in a massive armed attack in the Khyber region on Monday, and last month attackers looted 208 tons of wheat. On Oct 21, 263 tons of edible oil meant for a school feeding programme was burned in the Swat district.—AFP