PESHAWAR – US drones attacked militants in northwest Pakistan twice on Wednesday, killing more than 30 fighters, according to security officials, while the army said the Taliban chief in Swat had been wounded.
The attacks by the pilotless US aircraft were in the South Waziristan region on the Afghan border, a stronghold of Pakistani Taliban leader and al-Qaeda ally Baitullah Mehsud.
The Pakistani army is preparing an offensive against Mehsud, whom the military says is responsible for 90 per cent of terrorist attacks in Pakistan. The government says he plotted the assassination of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007.
The US, grappling with an intensifying Afghan insurgency, began stepping up attacks by drones on northwestern Pakistani militant enclaves a year ago.
Pakistan officially objects to the strikes on its soil, saying they violate its sovereignty and undermine its efforts to deal with militancy.
A drone fired several missiles at a militant convoy in the second attack of the day, Pakistani intelligence officials said.
“The Taliban appeared to be shifting to another place when they were hit,” said one of the agency officials. Another official said 25 to 30 militants were killed.
Earlier on Wednesday, US drones fired six missiles into a Pakistani Taliban training camp in another part of South Waziristan, killing six militants, government and intelligence agency officials said.
There were no reports of any “high-value target” being killed in either drone attack. However a Pakistani military spokesman said the leader of the Taliban in Swat, Fazlullah, had been wounded in an air strike by Pakistani aircraft on Monday.
“In one of the strikes Fazlullah has been injured,” military spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas told a briefing, citing “credible information”.
A self-proclaimed Muslim cleric, Fazlullah has been on the run since the military launched the offensive in the former tourist valley two months ago, attacking the militants allied with Mehsud who had taken control of the Swat valley, northwest of Islamabad.
Maj Gen Abbas said the offensive in Swat had entered its final phase after 158 soldiers had been killed. No senior Taliban leaders though have been among the approximately 1,600 militants the army has reported killed, leading to fears the fighters could re- emerge. Independent casualty estimates are not available.
Maj Gen Abbas said the Taliban leaders would not make a comeback. “There is absolutely zero possibility of this leadership returning to the valley,” he said.
The fighting has forced almost two million people from their homes. While public backing for the offensive is solid, there is a danger the suffering of the displaced could sap some support.
UN undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs John Holmes visited some of the displaced people and told reporters that Pakistan needed to ensure appropriate conditions, especially security, were in place before encouraging people to go home.
Many displaced are wary about going back.
“The government is saying they have control over Swat but that’s not really the case,” said mechanic Anwar Ali (29), camped out with his family in a crowded school in the town of Mardan, northwest Pakistan. – (Reuters)