Even as the army battles Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan's militants headed by Hakimullah Mehsud, the government has decided to adopt another approach to end the spate of terror strikes on its soil. As part of this strategy, Interior Minister Rehman Malik has urged religious scholars to issue fatwas against the Taliban militants, by terming them as kafirs (non-believers).
While the Pakistani army and US troops continue to drive the Taliban out of their hideouts in South Waziristan, there is perhaps a dormant, but more dangerous, threat looming overhead.
The Pakistani military on Friday claimed its forces have entered the important Taliban stronghold of Makeen in South Waziristan even as gunmen injured an army brigadier and his driver in an audacious attack in the federal capital.
Haji Omar Khan, a lieutenant of Afghan Taliban commander Jalaluddin Haqqani, was killed when two missiles slammed into a suspected militant training camp near Ladha town in South Waziristan close to the Afghan border early on Monday morning, local TV channels reported.
Pakistan military used warplanes and attack helicopters to dislodge Taliban militants blocking its bid to overrun their strong bases as 13 militants were killed in continuing heavy fighting for the key towns of Kotkai, Makeen and Ladha in the country's lawless tribal belt.
A top Taliban commander has threatened to carry out attacks on nine more key installations in Pakistan similar to the strike on Mehran Naval Base in Karachi to avenge the death of Osama bin Laden.
Pakistani Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq warned of "harsh response" to any military attack on its main stronghold of South Waziristan, as Pakistani fighter jets pounded their hideouts in the area where reports said an all out offensive was imminent.
Two days after Pakistani Taliban appointed a new chief, a US drone today targeted one of the key commanders Waliur Rehman as it fired missiles on his stronghold in South Waziristan killing eight people, mostly militants and wounding another nine.
Hakimullah Mehsud appointment would fuel suicide attacks throughout Pakistan's urban areas. During Baitullah's time he said that suicide bombers would hit twice a week in the urban areas of Pakistan.
An editorial in a Pakistani daily has claimed that intelligence outfits of India and Afghanistan funded late Tehrik-e-Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud.
In a major catch, Pakistani Taliban's top spokesman Maulvi Omar has been arrested along with his two associates in the lawless tribal region bordering Afghanistan, reports said on Tuesday.
Top Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud may have been killed in an American drone attack in South Waziristan in Pakistan's restive tribal belt. Quoting unnamed senior administration officials, the popular ABC News said United States and Pakistani officials now believe that Baitullah Mehsud, head of the Pakistani Taliban, was 'very likely' killed. "There is reason to believe that reports of his death may be true, but it can't be confirmed at this time," an American official said.
There was no official word on the development. Pakistani authorities rarely confirm US drone attacks or provide details of casualties.
No one claimed responsibility for the killing of Zainuddin, who had expressed his opposition to Baitullah Mehsud in recent media interviews. Zainuddin had also declared war against the Pakistani Taliban chief and his followers.
A top Pakistani tribal leader has vowed to wipe out the feared warlord Baitullah Mehsud, who has pushed Pakistan close to collapse. 30-year-old Qari Zainuddin, the leader of Taliban tribesmen opposed to Baitullah, said he had mobilised 3,000 armed followers and will attempt to wipe out the Pakistani Taliban chief and drive his al-Qaeda supporters from the country.
Taliban militant leader Baitullah Mehsud, accused by the Pakistan government of being involved in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, is set to dispatch a delegation to meet Pakistan People's Party co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari to condole the death of the former premier, a news report has said. "The delegation, comprising prominent tribal elders and religious scholars from South Waziristan, will deliver a written condolence letter from Mehsud to Asif Zardari," it said.
Pakistan Peoples Party chief Bhutto, 54, was killed in a suicide attack in Rawalpindi shortly after she had addressed an election rally on December 27, 2007.
In a jolt to militants, elders of the Mehsud tribe on Wednesday said they would hand over 378 men, including Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud, wanted by the authorities and back the government's efforts to restore peace in South Waziristan.
A top Al-Qaeda commander has reportedly been killed in a US drone attack in South Waziristan's Ladha region. Fox News reported that neither Al-Qaeda chief Osama-bin-Laden or Qaeda's second man-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri were among those killed in the attack.
The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, in an exclusive interview to rediff.com's Tahir Ali, has said that the increase in American troops will only provide the Taliban with more opportunities to attack. It has also claimed that the Pakistani Army's operations have done no damage to its strength and that it is as strong as it was earlier.
"We will wait till January for our offensive since we are stronger during the snowing season," said Hakimullah, who was made chief of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan after his predecessor Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a US drone attack in August
Indian intelligence agencies and military experts, who have been watching the developments in Pakistan closely, say the military operation is a lot more complex than it seems to be and in the end, might even result in a direct threat to India.
Though Pakistan has announced an all out offensive, a 'mother of all battles' against the Taliban in South Waziristan, local residents see the offensive as futile as they believe many Taliban have slipped away into other neighboring areas.
'Nobody is sure if Baitullah is dead or alive. For me, he is still alive. He can be considered dead when the national flag of Pakistan is hoisted on the buildings of all the schools in South Waziristan and students celebrate August 14 without any fear.'
The Pentagon today advised Pakistani military to take the extremists in the country "head on" and defeat them.
Fifteen-year-old Aitezaz Shah, who was arrested from Dera Ismail Khan town of the North West Frontier Province, identified the bomber as a man named Bilal who belonged to the South Waziristan tribal region, Interior Secretary Syed Kamal Shah said.A team of investigators has gone to South Waziristan to meet Bilal's family to get more information about him. Reports said that the investigators had shown a photograph of the suspected bomber to Aitezaz Shah, who identified him.
Mehsud blew himself up with a hand grenade when troops surrounded his hideout around 0830 hrs at Zhob, 300 km north of Balochistan provincial capital Quetta.
Umer Farooq, believed to be in charge of Al Qaeda's operations in Pakistan and Afghanistan, in a US drone attack in in the Khar Tangi area of Datta Khel district of Pakistan's troubled North Waziristan region, a day after the chief of the terror group's global operations was also killed in a Pakistani military operation.
The tribal militants call themselves 'Pakistani Taliban,' or members of a newly-coined and loosely knit entity, the Islamic Emirate of Waziristan.
'Pakistan security forces launched precise strike on a foreign terrorist training camp in area Dila Khula of South Waziristan Agency, about 25 km northeast of Wana, and successfully knocked it out,' said defence spokesman Shaukat Sultan.
The Pakistan Army bombarded suspected militant hideouts with helicopter gunships in tribal areas near the Afghan border, killing five Al Qaeda militants while losing an equal number of soldiers on the third day of the fighting
The crackdown came after tribesmen failed to heed the deadline to hand over those responsible for hiding terrorists whose hideout was raided last week.
They had been air-dropped in areas held by Al Qaeda militants in the south Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan.
The early morning strike, part of a continued offensive by the army to flush out terrorists from the tribal region, triggered a fierce gun battle.
A day after the Taliban freed over 250 prisoners from a high-security Pakistani prison, a top commander of the terror outfit has said they took a month to plan the assault and spent Rs 1 crore to execute it with military-like precision.
The Pakistani Taliban on Saturday named Khan Syed Mehsud alias Sajna as its new chief, a day after a US drone strike killed its former leader Hakimullah Mehsud in the lawless North Waziristan tribal region.
A United States drone fired two missiles in Pakistan's northwest tribal region on Thursday night amid anti-drone protests being staged in the country.
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