By DPA,
Islamabad: Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said Saturday that the country’s armed forces had concluded a vital operation against the Taliban in the tribal district of South Waziristan.
“The operation in South Waziristan is over, and now there is talk of an operation in (the neighbouring district of) Orakzai,” Gilani told reporters in the eastern city of Lahore.
However, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik, speaking hours later, said the operation would continue against “specific targets” in South Waziristan, the Taliban’s heartland near the Afghan border.
More than 30,000 soldiers moved into South Waziristan in mid-October against an estimated 10,000 Taliban and Al Qaeda militants.
Eight weeks into the operation, 589 militants and 79 security personnel were dead, according to the Pakistani military. The data cannot be verified as the area is closed to the reporters and aid agencies.
Although the government forces have gained control of the main cities and villages of the district, most of the Taliban militants managed to flee to the mountains or neighbouring districts.
They have vowed to regroup and conduct a protracted guerrilla war against the security forces.
The military assault has displaced more than 200,000 people.
Among the districts where Islamist militants have taken shelter is the adjoining Orakzai district, where the government forces are already targeting the militant hideouts mainly with airstrikes.
Gilani did not give any details about when a full-fledged operation would be launched in Orakzai.
The Taliban militants and their allies have carried out dozens of suicide attacks and raids on official targets and civilians in retaliation for the Waziristan operation, killing more than 500 people since mid-October.