Cameras record deadly Pakistan bomb
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By Adil Khan
BANNU, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan unleashed helicopter gunships and artillery to kill scores of Taliban fighters, officials said on Thursday, after opening a second front against militants near 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 militants infiltrated from Waziristan.
U.S. officials, worried that the Taliban could drive nuclear-armed Pakistan into chaos, have welcomed the Swat offensive and there has been talk that Waziristan, a hub of Taliban and al Qaeda activity, would be the army's next target.
Standing at the gateway to Waziristan, Bannu is 150 km (90 miles) southwest of Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province (NWFP), where a suicide truck bomb attack on a luxury hotel killed at least nine people on Tuesday.
A military statement said on Thursday that during the last 24 hours 66 militants had been killed in fighting mostly in Bannu and South Waziristan, but also Swat.
In Bannu alone, more than 130 militants 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 were 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.
Adding to catalog of violence, gunmen wounded a provincial minister in the Darra Adam Khel tribal region just outside Peshawar. Three people were killed in the attack, but Mian Nisar Gul, NWFP minister for jails, was in a stable condition, according to a fellow minister who spoke with him in hospital.
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 Continued...
Source: Reuters
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