A paramilitary soldier inspects burnt vehicles along the Chaman Pakistan-Afghanistan border, August 31, 2009. — Reuters

ISLAMABAD The Chaman border crossing with Afghanistan reopened after an administrative dispute culminated in an attack on a line of waiting Nato fuel tankers.

One driver was killed and 16 trucks destroyed when the fuel caught fire.

Taliban militants were suspected in the blast.

The blast ripped through a line of Nato fuel trucks backed up by a two-day closure resulting from a dispute over fruit inspections. At least one driver was killed and 16 trucks destroyed on the Pakistani side of the Chaman crossing, police official Gul Mohammad said.

The border crossing reopened Monday, he said.

Chaman is one of two main crossing points for supplies for American and Nato troops fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan. The foreign troops get about 75 per cent of their supplies through Pakistan.

Pakistani customs officials said their increased and lengthy inspections of Afghan trucks carrying pomegranates and grapes prompted Afghan officials to close the border.

Officials had warned that the closure was a security risk because it left nearly 1,000 trucks, many of them carrying supplies to international troops, exposed. The Talibans Afghan heartland of Kandahar is just across the border.

Customs and security officials from both sides agreed to end their dispute Monday, Mohammad said.