Nine guards killed in Nato convoy attack

The deaths in Gereshk district on Sunday night are part of a continuing campaign on truck routes that are seen as an easier target for insurgents than Nato bases.

They come about a week after trucks carrying Nato supplies for troops began moving again through the important Khyber Pass route from Pakistan into Afghanistan. Pakistan had closed the Torkham crossing in protest at a Nato helicopter strike that killed two Pakistani border guards.

During the 11-day blockade, about 150 trucks were destroyed and some drivers and police were injured in near-daily attacks in Pakistan. Nato, however, said its supplies were not interrupted as it simply used other routes - such as crossings in the west or further south.

Separately, an air strike by international coalition forces killed four suspected Taliban who were planting a bomb in neighbouring Nimroz province.