Deadly Pakistan fighting in tribal belt

PAKISTAN: Clashes and air strikes killed up to 27 militants and five civilians as fighting surged Monday across Pakistan’s northwest tribal belt, a Taliban stronghold, officials said.

Fighter jets pounded suspected insurgent hideouts in South and North Waziristan, where the military says it is using air raids to lay the groundwork for a full-scale assault against Pakistani Taliban warlord Baitullah Mehsud.

Pakistan has offered a 615,000-US-dollar reward for information leading to the capture, dead or alive, of Mehsud, who is holed up in South Waziristan and who has been blamed for some of the worst attacks in the nuclear-armed country.

About 2,000 people have died in bombings since July 2007 and the United States has put Pakistan at the heart of its war against Al-Qaeda and efforts to stabilise Afghanistan, welcoming a military push to clear out Taliban havens.

“At least seven militants were killed after jet fighters pounded their hideouts in Saam village of South Waziristan,” a security official told AFP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

A local intelligence official said several abandoned buildings were destroyed in air strikes but had no confirmation of any loss of life.

Dera Ismail Khan, AFP