Pakistan Says 600 Taliban Have Died in Waziristan (Update2) - Bloomberg.com
Pakistan Says 600 Taliban Have Died in Waziristan (Update2)
By Anwar Shakir
Nov. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Pakistans forces have killed 600 fighters, at least 7 percent of the nations main Taliban force, in a six-week-old offensive in South Waziristan, military spokesman Athar Abbas said.
As troops expand their control in South Waziristan, a number of Taliban fighters have escaped via mountain footpaths to regroup in other districts near Peshawar, Pakistans northwestern provincial capital, the military said.
Troops have recently killed 71 militants fighting in the Khyber and Kurram districts, between Peshawar and the border with Afghanistan, officials said today. Militants also have been captured in Peshawar, police chief Liaquat Ali Khan said in a phone interview from the city.
The government says the Mehsud tribal faction comprises 5,000 to 8,000 guerrillas and sponsors 80 percent of terrorist attacks in Pakistan. Seventy soldiers have died in the campaign, Abbas said. The area is closed to reporters and casualty figures have been impossible to verify.
Fighters have fled from Waziristan to Khyber, Kurram and Orakzai, districts of Pakistans semi-autonomous, ethnic Pashtun tribal zone along the border with Afghanistan. They have fought escalating battles with security forces in the past month and the army will continue its attacks on suspected Taliban camps in those areas, Abbas said today in a telephone interview.
U.S. Pressure
The army started its assault in Waziristan, the biggest yet against Islamic militant insurgents, on Oct. 17. The U.S. is pressuring Pakistan to clear the area of Taliban guerrillas, who it says are using bases there for attacks on NATO forces in Afghanistan.
Pakistan yesterday rejected comments by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown urging it to get tougher on Islamic militants in the tribal zone, which U.S. intelligence agencies say shelters al-Qaeda as well as the Taliban.
Nobody should doubt Pakistans sincerity in the fight against terrorism, Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said, according to the official Associated Press of Pakistan.
To contact the reporter on this story: Anwar Shakir in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan, at
ashakir1@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: November 30, 2009 07:43 EST