Pakistani jets soften up militant targets

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan — Pakistani jets softened up militant targets along the Afghan border Tuesday ahead of what the government promises will be a ground offensive into the Taliban’s main stronghold, authorities said.

The government’s resolve to send large numbers of troops on a risky operation into mountainous South Waziristan has deepened after a week of attacks around the country along with ominous signs that different militant groups are now working in tandem.

The military says 80 percent of the attacks in Pakistan are planned from the remote region but that militants from the Punjab province in the heart of the country helped the Taliban carry out last weekend’s bold assault on army headquarters just outside the capital.

The United States has been encouraging Pakistan to take strong action against insurgents who are using its soil as a base for attacks in Afghanistan, where U.S. troops are bogged down in an increasingly difficult war. But a push into rugged South Waziristan could be difficult for the army, which was beaten back on three previous offensives into the Taliban heartland there and forced to sign peace deals.

Tuesday’s bombing raids came as Pakistan’s foreign minister visited Washington to persuade U.S. officials to change the terms of a U.S. aid bill. The legislation promises $1.5 billion a year over the next five years — but on the condition that Pakistan’s weak, U.S.-backed civilian government maintain effective control over the military, including its budgets, the chain of command and top promotions.

Democratic Sen. John Kerry, who co-sponsored the aid bill, sought to soothe anger in Pakistan, saying lawmakers would provide written assurances that the United States has no intention of interfering with Pakistan’s sovereignty.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s mission appeared to be an about-face from last week, when he traveled to Washington to meet with senior U.S. officials. He told reporters then that the aid package was crucial to Islamabad’s efforts to fight terrorists and played down Pakistani military statements rejecting U.S. attempts to link the aid package to increased monitoring of anti-terror efforts.

The objections to the bill have driven a wedge between the military and the government in Islamabad over an aid drive that was supposed to show American support for the country as it battles the insurgents.

An army spokesman declined to say when the South Waziristan offensive would begin and gave no indication it was imminent.

An Associated Press reporter in the town of Dera Ismail Khan, which lies just next to South Waziristan, reported no unusual movement of military vehicles Tuesday, and did not see large numbers of people fleeing their homes.

For the past three months, jets have been bombing targets in the region, and the military has been trying to cut off militant supply and communication lines. Authorities are also trying to secure the support of militant factions that in the past have agreed not to attack Pakistani troops.

Bombing runs Tuesday destroyed about 15 houses in the Makeen, Ladha and Barwand regions of South Waziristan, a local intelligence official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief to the media.

No army spokesman was available to comment. However, the military said in a statement that “terrorists fired 31 rockets” at a convoy of security forces in South Waziristan on Tuesday, wounding two soldiers. It was unclear whether the army bombed the militant targets before or after the rocket attack.

In a reminder of the militants’ reach, authorities said helicopter gunship attacks killed 26 insurgents in Bajur, a tribally administered region 185 miles north of Waziristan. The army declared the area free of militants after major offensive six months ago, but some remain.

Abdul Malik, a local government official, said the gunship attacks took place in Damadola and Sawai, known as militant-held areas. He said his information about militant casualties came from intelligence and military sources.

Pakistan has seen four major terrorist attacks over the last nine days, including a suicide bombing of a U.N. office in the capital, Islamabad, and the 22-hour siege on the army’s headquarters.

The Taliban claimed responsibility Tuesday for a suicide bombing that killed 41 people. The attack took place Monday in Shangla district next to Swat Valley, where the military recently staged a massive offensive aimed at wiping out a strong contingent of Taliban.

Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq told the AP in a phone call that a wing of the Swat Taliban called the “Farzandan-e-Islam” — or Sons of Islam — carried out the attack and was targeting military vehicles.

“We will continue to attack the army and government,” Tariq warned.

He also said that the military’s bombings in South Waziristan the past two days have not damaged Taliban sites but rather homes of innocent tribesmen.

Despite the poor results of previous offensives into the region, the army may have been emboldened this year by a reasonably successful military campaign in the Swat Valley and adjoining Buner district and by the killing in a U.S. missile strike of Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud. The military also appears committed to destroying Mehsud’s group, as opposed to its often ambivalent position toward other insurgents in the past.

Associated Press writers Foster Klug in Washington and Habib Khan in Khar contributed to this report.