KHYBER PASS, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan sent troops armed with rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns to escort trucks Monday along a major supply route for U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, part of new security measures to combat militant attacks.
The paramilitary guards traveled in pickup trucks alongside convoys as they snaked their way up Pakistan’s Khyber Pass, an increasingly perilous 30-mile stretch. The response indicated Pakistan was taking seriously the threats to a route critical to Western forces battling Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan.
Al-Qaida and Taliban fighters, as well as …

An official said more than 100 security personnel were escorting a convoy of trucks through the Khyber Pass in the north-western region on Monday.
Additional troops were also deployed in the area.
The government had barred the movement of convoys last week after militants hijacked and looted 12 trucks and two Humvee armoured vehicles.
Most of the supplies for the foreign forces in Afghanistan are shipped into the Pakistani port of Karachi, then driven across the border either at Chaman, in Balochistan, or through the Khyber Pass.
Pakistani officials blamed last Monday’s hijacking on …