PAKISTAN'S army entered the last of three militant strongholds targeted by an offensive in the north-west yesterday, as the government released intercepts of Taleban leader Hakimullah Mehsud urging his men to fight and telling them that cowards will go to hell.
The operation in South Waziristan, the main Taleban and al-Qaeda sanctuary in Pakistan, has sparked a wave of retaliatory attacks that have killed about 300 civilians and security forces in the past month. Gunmen shot and wounded an army officer in I
slamabad yesterday.
The militants hope the attacks will weaken the army's resolve as it pushes deeper into the isolated, mountainous region near the Afghan border. But the army pressed ahead yesterday, entering Makeen, the home town of former Pakistani Taleban leader Baitullah Mehsud, who was killed in an apparent US missile strike in August.
Troops destroyed his house, an act of vengeance for the hundreds the Pakistani Taleban has killed in the country.
"Remember this is the commandment of God that once fighting starts with the enemy, you cannot leave the battlefield without permission from your commander, and don't look for excuses to run away from the fighting," Hakimullah Mehsud told followers in a speech intercepted on Thursday.
Those who did run away, he warned, "will go to hell".
Pakistani intelligence officials shared a recording of the speech – broadcast over a wireless radio network – with reporters, possibly to promote the idea that the militant leader is concerned about desertions in the ranks.
"We are in jihad and we should not pay heed to the whispers of Satan. We should sacrifice our lives for Islam so that we can feel pride on the day of judgment," Mehsud said.
The Pakistani army has vowed to continue the South Waziristan offensive despite the increase in militant attacks. It says it is now fighting bloody street-to-street battles in each of the three main militant strongholds in the region – Makeen, Sararogha and Ladha.
The military says hundreds of insurgents have been killed in the South Waziristan operation – including 24 in just the last day – and hundreds more have been wounded.
A Taleban spokesman disputed the army's claims, saying the group has not lost even a dozen fighters. The militants say they are intentionally drawing the troops farther into the isolated region to trap them as winter approaches.
Details are impossible to confirm since South Waziristan has been sealed off to outsiders since the offensive began. Journalists have only been allowed in on carefully orchestrated government trips.
Meanwhile, missiles believed fired by US drones killed two alleged militants on Thursday in a north-western tribal region, intelligence officials said.
The attack indicated the US will not abandon a favourite tactic against Islamist extremists despite Pakistani concerns that the missile strikes anger insurgents who have agreed to stay neutral as the army fights in South Waziristan.
The missiles hit a house in Naurak village in the North Waziristan tribal area overnight, killing two alleged militants, the two officials said.
However, local tribesman Inayat Wazir said by telephone that the house that was hit was empty and no-one had died.
It was not immediately possible to verify either claim due to the dangers in the region.
The area struck is believed to be under the control of Hafiz Gul Bahadur, a warlord involved in fighting Nato troops in Afghanistan. Pakistan's military has struck a deal with Bahadur – saying they would leave him alone as long as he stayed out of their way in South Waziristan as they fight the Pakistani Taleban.
