Pakistan tries to regain control of Khyber Pass

PAKISTAN has suspended the flow of trucks carrying Nato and US military supplies through the key Khyber Pass after launching an offensive against Taliban militants.

The fighters have vowed to choke supplies heading across Pakistan's western border to American and Nato troops in Afghanistan, where fighting is escalating seven years after the US-backed invasion toppled a Taliban regime.

Western forces in landlocked Afghanistan rely on the winding, mountainous pass for delivery of up to 75 per cent of their fuel, food and other goods, which arrive in Pakistan via the port of Karachi. Ammunition and weapons are flown in.

The surprise operation came amid growing tensions between Pakistan and its neighbour, India, triggered by last month's terror attack in Mumbai. The Indian government and Washington have blamed the atrocity on Islamist extremists based in Pakistan.

Pakistani security forces used artillery and helicopter gunships. Three militants were killed. "Our forces have killed at least three militants, and the operation is continuing," Fazal Mahmood, a Pakistani official told the Associated Press.

As the US prepares to almost double the number of its soldiers in Afghanistan next year, Western forces are now looking for alternative supply routes.

Nato is reportedly close to reaching deals with Central Asian countries north of Afghanistan that would allow the alliance to truck in "non-lethal" supplies.

Nato has reached a similar agreement with Russia despite tensions over the fighting in Georgia this year.