US drones prowl as Pakistani army prepares assault on al-Qaida ally

US drones prowled the sky over Pakistan’s South Waziristan yesterday, a day after one of the aircraft attacked a stronghold of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, killing about 70 militants.

The US attack came as the Pakistani army is preparing an all-out assault on al-Qaida ally Mehsud, who has been accused of orchestrating a campaign of bombings in Pakistan, including the 2007 assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

The push into South Waziristan on the Afghan border looms as the army is finishing off an offensive in the Swat valley, northwest of Islamabad, launched after Taliban gains raised fears for nuclear-armed Pakistan’s future.