Suspected U.S. Strikes Kill 45 in Pakistan

Meanwhile, Pakistani Jet Attack Wounds Local Taliban Commander in the Swat Valley

(AP)  Suspected U.S. unmanned aircraft launched two attacks against militants loyal to the head of the Pakistani Taliban on Wednesday, killing at least 45 in the latest in a barrage of strikes against a group also being targeted by the Pakistani military, intelligence officials said.

The convergence of U.S. and Pakistani interests in the South Waziristan tribal region suggests the two uneasy allies were cooperating in the strikes, making it harder for Islamabad to protest them publicly as it has in the past.

The army denied signing off on the attacks and insisted they were hurting its campaign against Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud by alienating local tribes it is trying to enlist in the fight.

Meanwhile, an army spokesman said a Pakistani jet attack wounded the local Taliban commander in the scenic Swat Valley elsewhere in the northwest. Troops have been battling militants in Swat for more than two months, an offensive that has so far failed to net any top insurgent leaders.

The mountainous border region is home to al Qaeda and Taliban leaders who plot attacks in Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan, which is witnessing an unprecedented level of violence against U.S. and NATO troops.

South Waziristan is the stronghold of Mehsud and his followers, whom the government blames for more than 90 percent of the suicide bombings in Pakistan in recent years. The U.S. State Department says Mehsud is a key al Qaeda facilitator in the region.

Suspected American drones have carried out more than 45 attacks in the region since last August. Although most have targeted foreign al Qaeda militants and those accused of violence in Afghanistan, increasingly they are aimed at the Mehsud network.

The first strike Wednesday took place before dawn. Six missiles were fired at a mountaintop training camp in the Karwan Manza area of South Waziristan, killing 10 militants, Pakistani intelligence officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media.

Hours later, 12 miles to the east, missiles hit four vehicles carrying Taliban militants, killing at least 35, including a key Taliban commander, one intelligence official said. Another said 50 were killed.

Independent verification of the targets and casualties was not possible because the region is remote, dangerous and largely inaccessible to journalists. U.S. and Pakistani officials do not publicly comment on such strikes.

On Tuesday, a suspected U.S. missile attack killed 12 militants in South Waziristan, including five foreigners, according to intelligence officials. Another recent strike killed up to 80 insurgents attending a funeral.

The timing is significant because Pakistan's military is also carrying out bombing runs and firing mortar rounds at militant targets in the region as part of efforts to kill or capture Mehsud and his followers. It says it plans to launch a large offensive there soon.

The government routinely protests suspected U.S. missile strikes as violations of Pakistani sovereignty and has publicly asked the U.S. to give it technology to launch its own attacks. But many analysts suspect the government — which has received billions of dollars a year from the U.S. since 2001 — supports the strikes, especially those against Mehsud and his Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.

"They are decrying them on one hand and aiding and abetting them on the other," said Shuja Nawaz, director of the U.S.-based Atlantic Council. "It is helpful for the Pakistanis when the TTP is being targeted. There is obviously much better coordination now."

Speaking after Tuesday's attack, Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas insisted the U.S. help was unwelcome and alienated local tribes it wanted to enlist in the fight against Mehsud.

The United States has been trying to get Pakistan's military to crack down on militants in the border area since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, but the country's past nurturing of militants to use as proxies in Afghanistan and Pakistan has complicated those efforts.

The Swat offensive began after militants there violated a peace deal with the government and moved into regions close to the capital, Islamabad. The army claims to have nearly cleared the valley of insurgents, killing more than 1,500.

Abbas told a news conference Wednesday that according to "credible information," the leader of the Swat Taliban, Maulana Fazlullah, was wounded in a recent airstrike. Fazlullah's capture or killing would be a major symbolic victory for the army and could ease the fears of some 2 million residents who fled the valley and surrounding districts and have yet to return.

[gromansky]

Can we bomb the funerals, too?

[tautomer]

LMAO....not a word about the civilians Obama has splattered!!! Shame on CBS News for not emphasizing that.

[rhs648]

There is no question that Iran's chief threat was Iraq. What we need is a strong and unified Iraq to help neutralizr Iran. How that happens at this point is a big question. It is sad when world events have to be dictated by supporting corrupt governments because they act as a buffer or balancing factor against other enemies. We supported Hussein for a while because we saw it in our interests.

[mjlewis6]

This is the war former President Bush should have been fighting were it not for his Oil Business experience and that of his VP Cheney's interest in Iraqi oil. This is the true criminal enterprise for money to have diverted our national interest in defeating Al Qaeda and the Taliban for their role in 9/11/2001 attacks on the US. These two leaders instead divered our armed forces to invading Iraq which had nothing to do with 9/11...Iraq had no WMD or threatened "Imminent Attack" as then President Bush publicly announced. In 2003, a criminal undertaking was executed, and within a year, it was re-labeled a war of liberation as Operation "Iraqi Freedom.'

Never forget, we are fighting the war of 9/11 today because of these two leaders' personal business interests in invading Iraq....instead of ending a war in Afghanistan that is flowing into Pakistan since 2001. Thanks George and D*i*c*k and the Republican Party...

Hat their mandate been one of wars of liberation....Cuba was available to them just 90 miles away and on the cheap...a lot less than the misguided Cheney's 50 billion for the Iraq invasion.

There would have been a lot more REPUBLICAN LATIN voters for the next election...had they just invaded CUBA instead of Iraq...but then, Bush and Cheney were looking to capture an oil market...and there is no money for them to liberate Cuba from WMDs.....

[edward1975-2009]

The Taliban has had their 15 minutes, time to eliminate these terrorist cowards. Hunt them down like the vermin they are, and end this thing. Their jihad against all that think differently then them must end.

[rhs648]

Isn't this a little more complex. It appears that the Taliban have a following. We keep hearing that some Pakistani people feel that the Taliban provides security, protection, and swift justice in a lawless society where even the army and Pakistani government could not do it. Hezbollah, in Lebanon, provides schools, health clinics, welfare, and security even though it is clearly a terrorist group.

[gunownerdan]

The only good Taliban is a dead Taliban!

[Sloughfoot]

Rats on the run, locate, isolate, destroy; end of story. Yes!

[sean58z]

Fazlullah should surrender to the Pakistani National Guard. Islamabad will allow suitable medical care in a state prison. There is no need for Fazlullah to lose more Fighters. They might give this up.

[gravyboat4000]

I don't think these are the,"surrender/give up", kind a guys.