PESHAWAR: Security forces launched a hunt yesterday for suspected Taleban militants who fired rockets toward their base in northwest Pakistan, killing 10 people near a key supply route for international forces in Afghanistan, an official said.

The militants fired three rockets late Thursday near the town of Landi Kotal, about six miles west of the Afghan border, said Rashid Khan, an area government administrator.

The rockets missed the security forces’ base, but one hit the town’s commercial area, killing 10 civilians, injuring 38 and setting fire to a timber yard and 20 nearby shops, Khan told The Associated Press.

The other two rockets fell in an open area and caused no casualties, he said.

Khan said troops opened fire toward the site of the launch and were searching the area yesterday to track and capture the attackers.

The town lies in Pakistan’s tribal region on a key road where militants have carried out a wave of attacks on trucks carrying supplies to US and NATO troops in Afghanistan.

Recent political turmoil in Pakistan has raised concerns that the government will shift its focus away from its battle against Al-Qaeda and Taleban militants.

Last month, the Supreme Court disqualified former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his politician brother Shahbaz from holding elected office because of controversial convictions dating back to the rule of former President Pervez Musharraf.

The court ruling prompted President Asif Ali Zardari to suspend the administration in the critical province of Punjab, handing its control to the federally appointed governor. Gov. Salman Taseer said yesterday he had not been asked by the president to resign. He said he would ask the president to lift the governor’s rule in Punjab when a party proves its majority in the Parliament.

Meanwhile, key players are locked in a battle to gain control of the country’s most populous province. Zardari chaired a meeting of the Central Executive Committee of the Pakistan People’s Party late Thursday to discuss the political situation in Punjab.

Other key players in the province — Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain of Pakistan Muslim League (Q) and Nawaz Sharif are also weighing their options. According to a source, both the PPP and PML (N) are waiting for the court’s verdict on the petition filed by the government to review a ban on Sharif brothers.