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By Adil Khan
BANNU,Pakistan (Reuters) - The Pakistani army attacked an area bordering a militant stronghold near the Waziristan tribal region on Thursday, killing scores of Taliban fighters with helicopter gunships and artillery shelling, officials said.
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 said it went on the offensive in Bannu district after up to 800 militants infiltrated from Waziristan.
U.S. officials, who have been worried that nuclear-armed Pakistan could slide into chaos unless the Taliban's advance weren't stopped, 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.
According to local military officials and a senior civilian official in Bannu well over 100 militants have been killed since the army swung into action on Wednesday.
"The operation is going on very well. Helicopter gunships, artillery, everything is being used," Kamran Zeb, the top administrator in Bannu, told Reuters.
"Yesterday, around 100 militants were killed in the operation," Zeb said, adding that there had been more killed on Thursday.
Lying just outside the tribal areas, Bannu is the gateway to Waziristan and is 150 km (94 miles) southwest of Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province, where a suicide truck bomb attack on a luxury hotel killed at least 9 people on Tuesday.
Speaking in Washington on Wednesday, 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, 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 -- a quarter of that so far.
The United Nations is heavily involved in relief efforts, and 5 U.N. workers, including two foreigners, were among those killed in the suicide attack on Peshawar's Pearl Continental hotel. Continued...
Source: Reuters
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