Pakistan braces for attacks ahead of possible Taliban offensive

PAKISTAN braced yesterday for more militant attacks ahead of an anticipated offensive against a Taliban stronghold, as the insurgents said they bombed a UN relief agency because international aid work was not in “the interest of Muslims”.

Wed, 07 Oct, 2009 - 01:00

Avi Nessman Islamabad

The suicide bombing on Monday at the World Food Programme headquarters in Islamabad killed five people, prompting the UN to temporarily shut all its offices across the country. The attack proved the Taliban retained the ability to launch deadly strikes in the heart of Pakistan despite government hopes the August 5 killing of their leader Baitullah Mehsud in a CIA drone attack and military successes in the Swat Valley would send the group spiralling into chaos.

Pakistani officials have said they are prepared to launch another offensive to rout the Taliban from their mountain redoubts in South Waziristan. Recent media reports said a major ground offensive was imminent. Such an offensive could come at a high price for the military. The army has been beaten back there three times since 2004 and analysts say 10,000 militants are dug in around the region. Two militants and seven other people were killed in army strikes yesterday, intelligence officials said. They said the army was trying to establish whether the seven were militants. The officials said the strikes were in response to a Taliban attack on two military bases. Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the government was already targeting the Taliban in South Waziristan.

Meanwhile, the top US commander in Afghanistan Gen Stanley McChrystal met Pakistan military chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani in Islamabad yesterday.

The Obama administration is debating whether to send 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan and the US says it cannot win there unless Pakistan does more to fight militants on its side of the border.

The Taliban have said they would repel any offensive. “The UN and other foreign (aid groups) are not working in the interest of Muslims... They are infidels,” said a spokesman.