PESHAWAR, July 24: Gunmen attacked trucks bound for Nato forces in Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing a driver, officials said, in the first such incident since supply lines were reopened after a seven-month blockade.

Islamabad agreed three weeks ago to allow convoys supplying coalition troops in its wartorn neighbour to pass through its territory once again after halting them in November after a botched US air raid that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack but Pakistani Taliban have threatened to attack Nato trucks andkill their drivers, and religious groups have held demonstrations against the resumption of convoys.

The trucks were attacked near the market in Jamrud town on the outskirts of Peshawar, local administration official Bakhtiar Khan said.

“Two armed men riding a motorbike opened fire on a container carrying supplies for Nato troops across the border and killed its driver,” Mr Khan told AFP, adding that the driver’s helper was seriously wounded.

Another administration official said the truck was part of a convoy of three or four vehicles travelling without security protection when they came under attack.

A hospital official in Jamrud confirmed the casualties.

“The driver was shifted to our hospital in serious condition, he died later,” doctor Azam Khan of the state-run Jamrud hospital said.

He received one bullet in the head and two in the chest, he added.

So far relatively few Nato trucks have actually trickled across the border, with owners awaiting a deal on compensation for seven months’ missed work and security guarantees in Karachi.