A driver sustained bullet injuries when unidentified gunmen opened fire on a container truck carrying supplies to Nato troops in Afghanistan in Khyber tribal district on Friday, police said.

The incident took place at the main Pakistan-Afghanistan border road near Takhta Baig check-post, Khyber District Police Officer Hussain Khan told DawnNewsTV.

He said that the attackers targeted the vehicle from the front and fled before police reached the site.

The injured driver, whose identity could not be ascertained immediately, was shifted to a nearby health facility where doctors said he was out of danger.

“Police have started an investigation and a search operation has been launched in Takhta Baig area to arrest the attackers,” the DPO said.

Khan said it was premature to comment about the motive behind the attack, saying that police were trying to assess whether the target was Nato supplies or the incident was a result of a personal rivalry.

“This is the main route connecting Pakistan and Afghanistan and Nato and transit trade containers use this road,” he observed, adding that police will arrest the attackers soon.

Pakistan is a major transit supply route for the Nato mission in landlocked Afghanistan.

Trucks travelling through Pakistan to supply US-led forces have frequently been attacked during Nato’s nearly 18-year intervention in Afghanistan, and before the merger of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.