NEW DELHI AND PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN — Pakistan announced late Sunday that it planned to expand its offensive against Taliban militants into the troubled South Waziristan region. The announcement came just hours after a bomb in a crowded market killed eight people and wounded 38.
The deadly bombing in the North-West Frontier Province was the latest in a series of attacks believed to be in retaliation for the army's offensive against strongholds of the Islamic militant group.
Owais Ahmed Ghani, the province's governor, announced that the army would extend its fight against militants to the portion of Waziristan abutting the border with Afghanistan. Ghani's confirmation of the move, which followed weeks of rumors to that effect, didn't say when it would start. The area is the stronghold of the country's most powerful Taliban commander, Baitullah Mahsud.
"The military and law-enforcing agencies have been ordered to carry out a full-scale operation to eliminate these beasts and killers," Ghani said at a news conference.
Also Sunday, a reported attack by a drone aircraft in the South Waziristan tribal area was said to have killed as many as five people. A missile fired from the drone hit a vehicle in Laddah, about 40 miles north of the region's main town of Wana, sources said.
In mid-May, U.S. officials acknowledged having flown drones in cooperation with the Pakistani government. The reported attack Sunday was the first since May 16.
Pakistani analysts, citizens and a growing number of U.S. analysts say the military value of such strikes is usually more than offset by the loss of public goodwill. The highly unpopular program, which has killed many civilians, has been viewed in Pakistan as an affront to the nation's sovereignty.
"They may hit a target, but it has a 10-times-greater negative impact on public opinion," said Ishtiaq Ahmad, a professor at Islamabad's Quaid-i-Azam University. "The U.S. and Pakistan need to cooperate and coordinate better on the civilian and the military side."
The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday approved a tripling of aid to Pakistan to about $1.5 billion a year in a bid to combat militancy through development. The country is now the largest recipient of U.S. aid.
On Saturday, Pakistan's army stepped up its air offensive with bombing raids on Darra Adam Khel, a militant stronghold near Peshawar, capital of the North-West Frontier Province.
