CHAMAN A key route for NATO supply trucks through southwest Pakistan into Afghanistan reopened Wednesday five days after tribesmen blocked it over the killing of a man in a drugs raid, police said.

Hundreds of trucks and tankers have been stranded since Friday along the highway between Quetta and the border town of Chaman due to the tribesmens blockade in the rural town of Qila Abdullah.

The men were protesting at the recent killing of a tribesman during a joint raid by Pakistani paramilitary forces, anti-narcotics police and intelligence agents.

`The tribesmen have lifted the road blocks and the highway is open for all traffic,` senior police official Hammad Shakil told AFP, although he said the drivers were waiting for snow to be cleared from the road.

`The tribesmen were assured by higher authorities that investigations would be carried out and those responsible for the killing would be taken to task, after which they lifted the blockade,` he said.

The blockade in the southwest was not linked to a series of spectacular attacks on trucks and oil tankers using the Khyber Pass, the main NATO supply route through the undergoverned tribal areas in northwest Pakistan.

Some supplies destined for NATO and US-led forces in Afghanistan are transported by plane or via the southwest route from Quetta through Chaman and across the border at Spin Boldak.