Islamabad - Pakistani warplanes attacked suspected Taliban
positions in the restive north-western region near Afghanistan on
Sunday, killing at least five people, an intelligence official said.
The strikes came in two villages of the North Waziristan tribal
district, one of the seven lawless territories in the north-west
which are littered with Taliban hideouts.
'Five people were killed when jet fighters bombed the Mohmandkhel
and Baegan villages,' the intelligence official said on condition of
anonymity. Around a dozen more were also wounded in the attacks that
destroyed several houses.
The identities of the dead were not immediately clear. However,
residents claimed all were local tribesman.
Pakistan's armed forces have been carrying out aerial raids in the
region for the past several weeks to soften up militant targets
before launching 'a decisive operation' against Pakistani Taliban
chief Baitullah Mehsud and his network in South Waziristan district.
Mehsud is believed to be behind a string of attacks that have
taken place in the country since 2007, including the assassination of
former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
The United States has offered a five-million-dollar reward for
information leading to the arrest or death of the feared warlord, who
is described as 'a key facilitator of al-Qaeda.'
Militants have recently stepped up violence in the tribal region
as the military announced that it was close to concluding its
offensive in the former tourist valley of Swat and its adjoining
districts, with immediate plans to go after Mehsud.
More than 1,600 militants have been killed in the Swat onslaught
which began as a response to a spring-time offensive in which Taliban
fighters overran the Buner district, located just 100 kilometres from
the capital city, Islamabad.
The army claimed to have cleared vast swathes of the scenic
mountain region, but some pockets of resistance still exist, causing
sporadic clashes.
Three soldiers were killed and four more were injured in a
gunfight with the Taliban militants near Swat's Bari Kot area at the
weekend, a military statement said on Sunday.
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