ISLAMABAD: Pakistani troops have tightened the noose around the Taleban stronghold in South Waziristan as the army prepares for a final offensive, an army spokesman said on Saturday.
“All routes leading to South Waziristan, which remains a hotbed of suicide bombers trained and launched by Baitullah Mehsud and his main executioner Qari Hussain, have been sealed,” said Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas.
Mehsud was killed in a US missile strike in August. Mehsud’s killing threw the Taleban into disarray with rival factions vying to take control of the alliance of 13 militant factions. Confusion surrounds who is in charge.
“The operation is continuing through air targeting, squeezing the area and, of course, waiting for the result of the infighting for the succession,” said Abbas, who did not give a time frame for unfolding a large-scale military offensive.
Security forces have been launching air strikes while moving in troops, blockading the region and trying to split Taleban factions.
US intelligence agencies believe the newly named leader of the militant alliance, Hakimullah Mehsud, might have been killed in a firefight with a rival faction soon after Mehsud’s death.
Abbas said two divisions, or up to 28,000 soldiers, were in place, enough to take on an estimated 10,000 hardcore Taleban.
Soldiers and equipment have been moving toward the Taleban bastion. “There are large convoys passing through Wana almost every day,” said Said Wali, a resident of Wana, the main town in South Waziristan.
Meanwhile, a pro-government tribal elder was killed Saturday when masked gunmen opened fire on his car in northwest Pakistan, local officials said.
Malik Abdul Hamid, 35, a member of a peace council working with the government, was killed in Bajaur district as he traveled to a meeting of the local administration, a local official said. Hamid’s cousin was wounded, he added.
— With input from agencies
