QUETTA At least 25 oil tankers, carrying fuel for the Nato forces stationed in Afghanistan, were completely destroyed while 15 partially damaged in a pre-dawn attack on Wednesday in the outskirts of Quetta. One person was also killed in the assault. DIG Investigation Hamid Shakeel said over two dozens oil tankers, parked near a hotel located at the Aktherabad Bypass, were destroyed when unidentified people opened indiscriminate fire, adding that one person was also killed in the attack whose body was shifted to the Bolan Medical Complex Hospital. But the sources said the number of vehicles parked at the terminal was over four dozens out which 25 were gutted completely. Meanwhile, the drivers managed to shift 11 tankers to safer places, they added. According to the eyewitnesses, a group of attackers, who reached the spot in two vehicles, targeted the tankers with live ammunition and fled the scene easily. Heavy contingents of police and Frontier Corps (FC) reached locality and cordoned off the area where the fire continued to blaze till late afternoon. The fire brigade personnel started the operation to control the inferno but lack of vehicles and water affected their efforts badly. The fire could not be extinguished immediately owing to the huge magnitude and lack of fire-fighting arrangements, one of firefighters told this scribe, adding that two of his colleagues were shifted to the hospital as they fainted due to huge flames and thick smoke. Police have registered a case and started investigation; however, no arrest has been made so far. It is pertinent to mention that after Torkham crossing in Fata, Balochistan is the second largest route for the supplies of Nato and American troops fighting Taliban in Afghanistan. The two routes being used from the province are Karachi-Quetta via Bolan Pass and Karachi-Quetta via Khuzdar. The number of attacks on Nato tankers and containers has increased many manifolds in recent weeks, resulting in destructions of dozens of vehicle and killing of several drivers. Agencies add: Taliban terrorists have claimed the Quetta attack and other raids his week in which nearly 60 trucks were torched and three people died. They vowed more attacks to disrupt Natos supply route through Pakistan and to avenge a new wave of the US drone strikes targeting Taliban and Al-Qaeda terrorists linked to the terror plot against European cities. We claim responsibility for attacking and torching Nato tankers in Quetta today, Tehrik-e-Taliban Spokesman Azam Tariq told AFP. We will further intensify attacks with the intensification of the US drone strikes on us. Provincial police chief Malik Mohammed Iqbal later said some suspects from the area were being questioned but gave no further details. On the other hand, Home Secretary Balochistan Cap (r) Akbar Hussain Durrani said the US and the Nato officials policy of not informing the Pakistani authorities about the position of their tankers had resulted in the latest attack. Talking to the news agency, he said the Home Department was not informed that the vehicles would be parked at a private terminal in the outskirts of the Quetta. He said the provincial govt with cooperation of the security agencies could provide protection to the oil tankers if the US and the Nato had made a request for pre-emptive measures. We have strictly advised the US-led allied forces officials that their supplies should not be moved or parked individually and without informing the Home Department, Durrani said. When asked whether the Balochistan government had been directed by Islamabad to shut down Chaman border for the NATO supplies, he denied and said, No we have not received such directives so far.