Pakistan offers reward for Taliban commander

Pakistan has ramped up its campaign against Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, placing a bounty on the chieftain’s head and launching air strikes on his stronghold in the country’s north-west.

The government has expressed its determination in recent weeks to eliminate Mehsud, who is viewed with increasing alarm in Islamabad as a major threat to security in the country. His group has been blamed for a string of suicide bombings across the nation that have killed more than 100 people in the past month.