Pakistan kill scores of Taliban in new combat zones

By Adil Khan Adil Khan –

Thursday, June 11, 2009

BANNU, Pakistan (Reuters) –

The Pakistani army unleashed helicopter gunships and artillery to kill scores of Taliban fighters on Thursday after opening a second front against militants in area bordering their stronghold in the Waziristan tribal region.

Already in the final stages of an operation to clear Islamist fighters from the Swat valley, far to the northwest and closer to Islamabad, the military went on the offensive on Tuesday in Bannu district after up to 800 Taliban fighters infiltrated from Waziristan.

U.S. officials, who have been worried that the Taliban could drive nuclear-armed Pakistan into chaos, have welcomed the offensive in Swat.

There has been speculation that once that was over the focus would switch to Waziristan, long regarded as a hub of Taliban and al Qaeda activity.

A military statement said 66 Taliban fighters had been killed in fighting mostly in Bannu and South Waziristan, but also Swat, during the last 24 hours.

In Bannu alone, more than 130 Taliban fighters have been killed since the army swung into action two days ago, according to military officers and a senior civilian official in the area. Independent casualty estimates are unavailable.

"The operation is going on very well. Helicopter gunships, artillery, everything is being used," Kamran Zeb, the top administrator in Bannu, told Reuters.

In South Waziristan, the stronghold of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, around 400 militants attacked two forts in Jandola and Siplatoi. They killed three soldiers but lost 22 of their own men, the military statement said.

Standing at the gateway to Waziristan, Bannu is 150 km (90 miles) southwest of Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province, where a suicide truck bomb attack on a luxury hotel killed at least nine people on Tuesday.

Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said he saw a dramatic shift in the Pakistani government's attitude because of public outrage over the Taliban's actions, including the attack on the hotel.

"What I saw in Pakistan on this trip was a slow emergence of a consensus behind the government's actions," Holbrooke said in Washington on Wednesday, reporting back on his trip last week.

AID CRUNCH

Pakistan's decision to opt for military action in Swat has been helped by a shift in public opinion. That support might ebb if the welfare of some 2.5 million people displaced by the conflict in the northwest is mishandled.

Nine aid agencies said on Thursday in London they would be forced to stop or cut back supplies of aid unless a funding crisis was resolved.

The United Nations has appealed for $543 million, but has received only $138 million so far.

The United Nations is heavily involved in relief efforts, and five U.N. workers, including two foreigners, were among those killed in the suicide attack on Peshawar's Pearl Continental hotel.

HEAVY BOMBING

In the tribal region of Orakzai, security forces also used artillery and warplanes to obliterate a militant compound, killing at least five people, but probably more, according to the the region's mayor.

"It's been heavy bombing and there must be many more casualties, both militants and civilians. We're trying to collect the numbers," mayor Gul Khitab said.

A pro-Taliban cleric, Maulvi Jameel, said several militants' positions and hideouts had been struck during the raid. He didn't have information about casualties.

Immediately to the southwest of Peshawar, Taliban fighters had until a year ago little presence in Orakzai, one of the more developed tribal regions.

There have been clashes scattered across Swat this week, but the largest population centers and key roads have been cleared of Taliban, and the army has smashed the militants main bases and training camps in the mountains.

The military says more than 1,300 militants and 105 soldiers have been killed in Swat, though there are no independent casualty estimates available.

Some Taliban fighters have fled through the passes to the Kalam valley in the north, and Upper Dir district, where the army has backed a tribal militia, or lashkar, that has turned on the insurgents.

(Additional reporting by Hasan Mehmood, Alamgir Bitani, and Zeeshan Haider; writing by Simon Cameron-Moore; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)