By DPA
Islamabad : Two soldiers were killed Wednesday as hundreds of Pakistani troops launched a major operation against a pro-Taliban commander who has been blamed for the murder of former premier Benazir Bhutto in the tribal region bordering Afghanistan, officials said.
More than 700 soldiers from the Baloch Regiment of the Pakistan Army began an offensive against the hideouts of Islamic militants in the mountains of the tribal south Waziristan bordering Afghanistan, a local security official said.
Several hundred paramilitary troops were also assisting them in the action.
The official, who sought not to be named, said at least half a dozen tanks, heavy artillery and helicopter gunship were backing the government forces in the operation against the heavily armed followers of the tribal commander Baitullah Mehusd.
Confirming the report, military’s chief spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said, “Security forces are engaging militants’ hideouts and strongholds in three areas of the tribal district.”
“The action will continue until the region is cleared of the militants’ hideouts.”
There was no word on the casualties in the ongoing clashes in south Waziristan that is believed to be safe haven for Al Qaeda terrorists and Taliban fighters carrying out cross-border attacks on international forces in Afghanistan with the support of the tribal leader Baitullah Mehsud.
Mehusd leads Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (Taliban Movement of Pakistan), an alliance of more than 30 groups of Islamic militants in the tribal region, and was blamed for ordering the murder of Bhutto who died in a gun and suicide bombing attack.
His men were also suspected of being behind a rocket attack at a security camp in the neighbouring tribal region of north Waziristan Wednesday morning.
“Two soldiers embraced martyrdom and six were injured in the attack,” Abbas said. Security forces retaliated with artillery and mortar fire and the insurgents managed to flee, he added.
The latest fight comes a day after seven soldiers and 37 rebels were killed in the tribal area.
Washington has recently increased pressure on President Pervez Musharraf, a key western ally in the fight against terrorism, to eliminate militants’ hideouts in tribal regions before the usual spring offensive by the Taliban in Afghanistan.