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Pakistan continues to block NATO trucks

02 October 2010 22:59 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Pakistan has closed a border crossing to prevent dozens of trucks carrying supplies to US-led foreign forces from entering Afghanistan for a third straight day, APA reports quoting Press TV.

Trucks and tankers have been lining up at the border, waiting for NATO’s main supply route into Afghanistan to open.

Pakistani officials said the key border post will stay closed during upcoming weeks in retaliation to a recent NATO attack that killed three Pakistani soldiers.

The ban, however, has not stopped US forces from carrying out more attacks in the Pakistani territory.

In the most recent of such attacks, two US drone attacks killed at least 18 people in Pakistan on Saturday.

US-led forces have carried out a record number of unauthorized airstrikes in Pakistan in 2010.

The drone attacks, which were initiated by former US President George W. Bush and continued under President Barack Obama, have drastically increased in recent weeks at a time when floods have caused devastation in the South Asian country.

Islamabad has condemned the airstrikes, describing them as a violation of its sovereignty.

A member of the opposition party in Islamabad, Khurshid Ahmed, recently demanded a halt to the unsanctioned attacks, saying, "We regard it as an act of war, and we have demanded that the Pakistani government take immediate steps."

Islamabad should "both stop supplies to NATO and, No. 2, if our borders are violated we should strike back [sic]," He was quoted by Fox News as saying.