Pakistan jets blast Taliban bases
After hostage drama:
PAKISTAN: Pakistani jets pounded Taliban sanctuaries after a dramatic
hostage siege at the army headquarters, as the military geared up Monday
for a full ground assault to take on the increasingly brazen rebels.
The air strikes late Sunday and early Monday on Taliban strongholds
in South Waziristan and Bajaur districts left at least 31 suspected
militants dead, officials said, although there was no independent
verification of the toll.
| At
a glance |
| * Air strikes
after hostage drama
*Blast heard near Swat area
* At least 31 killed
|
The latest of a months-long series of air raids designed to soften up
the rebels came after suspected Taliban-linked gunmen staged an
audacious daytime attack on the military command centre near Islamabad
on Saturday. In total, eight militants, eight soldiers and three
hostages were killed in the crisis that unfolded at the heart of the
military establishment in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, which ended
with a commando raid Sunday. The army said it was now awaiting orders to
stage a full-scale offensive on the Pakistani Taliban seat of power in
South Waziristan, a rugged mountainous region bordering Afghanistan
which lies outside direct government control. “The army is fully
prepared to launch an operation against Tehreek-e-Taliban,” said a
military spokesman, referring to the Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist militant
group TTP.
“We are waiting for government orders... The government has decided
in principle to launch an operation against Taliban in Waziristan.”
Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said that recent attacks —
including a car bomb Friday that killed 52 people in the northwestern
city of Peshawar — may hasten the assault on the area.
“An operation against the Taliban in Waziristan is a must,” Syed
Shahab Ali Shah, the top administrative official of South Waziristan,
told AFP.
“According to my information the government has decided to launch an
operation against Waziristan’s Taliban, but I do not know about the
date.”
Under intense US pressure to take on the militants, the Pakistani
army claimed success in an offensive against the Taliban earlier this
year in the one-time tourism paradise of Swat valley.
Islamabad, Monday, AFP |
