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| Pakistan targets Taliban leader | |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| Pakistan has ordered its military to carry out an offensive against the Pakistani Taliban leader in the north-west of the country, an official says. | Pakistan has ordered its military to carry out an offensive against the Pakistani Taliban leader in the north-west of the country, an official says. |
| Provincial governor Owais Ahmad Ghani said troops had been told to eliminate Baitullah Mehsud and his fighters. | Provincial governor Owais Ahmad Ghani said troops had been told to eliminate Baitullah Mehsud and his fighters. |
| Mr Ghani did not say when the operation would begin, but he suggested it would be imminent. | Mr Ghani did not say when the operation would begin, but he suggested it would be imminent. |
| Baitullah Mehsud's group are thought to be behind a string of attacks in Pakistan in recent weeks. | Baitullah Mehsud's group are thought to be behind a string of attacks in Pakistan in recent weeks. |
| Mr Ghani told reporters in Islamabad: "Baitullah Mehsud is the root cause of all evils." | |
| Bomb attack | |
| Correspondents say the announcement of the operation, in South Waziristan, is likely to please the US. | |
| Washington regards the tribal region as a particularly troublesome hideout for al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters suspected of attacks on US forces in neighbouring Afghanistan. | |
| In the past, Pakistani army action has faltered or ended in truces that correspondents say have strengthened the militants. | |
| A bomb at Dera Ismail Khan killed at least eight people | |
| Analysts say that in many ways a full-scale operation in South Waziristan would be harder than the recent fighting in the Swat valley, where Pakistani troops say they killed hundreds of militants in the past six weeks. | |
| The announcement of the offensive against Baitullah Mehsud came after at least eight people were killed earlier in the day in a bomb attack at a market in the north-western Pakistani town of Dera Ismail Khan. | |
| The explosives were reported to have been detonated by remote control after being hidden in a rickshaw. | |
| The authorities blamed the attack on supporters of Baitullah Mehsud. |