Peshawar (Pakistan), Mar. 18: Taking advantage of the restoration of sacked judges crisis in Pakistan, militants have struck twice in the last 24 hours and destroyed Afghanistan-bound heavy military vehicles and supplies.

A Washington Times report said that the attacks on NATO''s supply route followed a respite of several months and appeared to have caught the authorities by surprise.

Ghulam Mustapha, a political science professor at the University of Peshawar, said the militants had taken advantage of Pakistan''s internal political crisis to foment instability.

The spokesman of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) Ministry of Information declined to comment on the incidents.

Malik Naveed, the Inspector General of Police in the province, recently had claimed to have successfully prevented attacks on NATO supplies after hundreds of such assaults in 2008.

The renewed attacks suggest the weakness of local authorities. The provincial government, led by the secular Awami National Party, has failed to contain Taliban militancy in the province.

The latest attacks on NATO supplies coincided with the deployment of thousands of additional U. S. troops to Afghanistan.

“Obviously the militants have made the latest attacks keeping in view the arrival of thousands of U. S. troops in order to affect their combat capabilities,” said retired Maj. Tariq Javed, a Peshawar-based security analyst.

The attacks followed an agreement among three Pakistani Taliban factions to unite under the leadership of Baitullah Mehsud. One of his commanders, Hakimullah Mehsud, is in charge of three so-called tribal agencies, including the Khyber agency, which is believed to be the home area of the militants that attacked the NATO supplies. (ANI)