Pakistan hunts “high value targets” in Waziristan

Islamabad — Pakistan has deployed over 2000 para-military personnel in volatile North and South Waziristan to hunt for “high value” terrorist targets, including key Taliban operative Baitullah Mehsud.

The deployment is ahead of what the government calls “grand operation” in its Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) bordering Afghanistan.

“Security forces are expected to begin a grand operation in the troubled Waziristan tribal region to hunt down Al Qaeda and Taliban militants, including Baitullah Mehsud, who is holed up in the area,” The Daily Times said Monday quoting unnamed officials.

In a related report, the newspaper said the intelligence agencies have alerted the interior ministry that 15 Taliban fighters arrived in Rawalpindi from Bannu and South Waziristan on Jan 25 with plans to target US and UN interests in Islamabad.

The Taliban fighters have coordinated their plans with banned militant outfit, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, the report said.

Mehsud was reportedly involved in the kidnapping and murder of two Chinese engineers along with their Pakistani driver working at the Gomal Zam Dam in 2004.

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