NATO supplies remain blocked

PESHAWAR: A blockade of the Khyber Agency route for NATO supplies from Pakistan into Afghanistan continued for the third consecutive day on Saturday. Pakistan halted the convoys on Thursday after officials blamed cross-border NATO helicopter fire for the deaths of three Pakistani soldiers. "The situation is the same. The border is blocked for NATO supplies," an official at Torkham, the main border crossing in Pakistan's Khyber district, said. According to sources, convoys were suspended for third day but negotiations to solve the problem continued. Long queues of trucks and oil tankers are waiting along Torkham and in the adjacent areas for the reopening. NATO said aircraft had entered Pakistani airspace Thursday in self-defence and killed "several armed individuals" after the crews believed they had been fired at from the ground. It was the fourth such strike this week into Pakistani territory. Khyber is on the main NATO supply route through Pakistan into Afghanistan, where more than 152,000 US and NATO forces are fighting an intensifying Taliban insurgency