QUETTA: A driver was killed and nine Nato oil tankers parked outside a hotel in the Bolan district were destroyed on Sunday night when unidentified men opened fire and torched the vehicles.

The oil tankers were returning to Karachi after the Balochistan government decided to send back all oil tankers and containers carrying supplies for Nato forces in Afghanistan for security reasons.

Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani had declared that Nato tankers and containers were vulnerable to attacks after a rocket attack at a terminal in Quetta left dozens of vehicles loaded with Nato supplies were gutted on Thursday.

At present, over 350 oil tankers and containers are parked in Quetta and the border town of Chaman.

Sources said that nine oil tankers were parked outside a hotel on the outskirts of Dhadar town in Bolan district when four armed men on two motorcycles opened fire at them. Then they put the tankers on fire and escaped.

One driver, identified as Noman, a resident of Peshawar, was killed in the attack, police said.

Hundreds of loaded trucks were stranded in the country after the government blocked Nato supply routes to protest against a Nov 26 Nato air attack on two border posts in Mohmand Agency that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.