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PESHAWAR, Pakistan — The Pakistani military on Sunday announced that it had launched a “comprehensive operation” against foreign and local militants hiding in the tribal region near the border with Afghanistan.
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Ending years of hesitation, Pakistan’s military on Sunday said it was launching a major military operation against the Pakistani Taliban and allied foreign militants at their main base in the tribal belt along the Afghan border.
In a prelude to the announced offensive, Pakistani fighter jets pounded suspected militant hide-outs in Pakistan’s tribal belt early Sunday, killing at least 50 fighters, many of them foreigners. Military officials called those attacks a reprisal for the militants’ assault on the Karachi airport one week ago.
The assault on North Waziristan, a lawless district that heavily armed militants have used as a sanctuary to stage attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan, comes one week after an audacious Taliban assault on the country’s busiest airport, in Karachi, left at least 36 people dead.
In the days after the Karachi assault, military officials had hinted that plans were underway for a major operation in the northwestern tribal belt, primarily in North Waziristan. And last week, American drones attacked militant targets twice in the region after an almost six-month lull in the drone operations while Pakistani officials tried and failed to negotiate a peace deal with the Taliban.
But a military campaign was anticipated before the Karachi attack, and tens of thousands of residents have fled North Waziristan while the government has evacuated the families of officials posted to the area.
The military, which said in a statement on Sunday that the offensive was launched at the direction of the Pakistani government, offered no details about how many troops were involved or how the operation would be carried out.
In a prelude to the announced offensive, Pakistani fighter jets pounded suspected militant hide-outs in North Waziristan early Sunday. The military said in a statement that it had killed 105 militants, mostly from Uzbekistan, but it was not possible to independently confirm the toll because Waziristan is inaccessible to most journalists.
According to the military’s statement, the militants in North Waziristan have “waged a war against the state of Pakistan” and have been “disrupting our national life in all its dimensions, stunting our economic growth and causing enormous loss of life and property.” The military said that it had been “tasked to eliminate these terrorists regardless of hue and color, along with their sanctuaries.”
Hours later, the military announced the start of a “comprehensive operation” against the Taliban on Sunday night. Militants in North Waziristan had “waged a war against the State of Pakistan,” the statement said, “disrupting our national life in all its dimensions.”
A security official in Peshawar said that in the early attacks on Sunday, F-16 jets fired missiles at targets in Daigan, a mountainous area in North Waziristan, the main hub of militant activity in the northwestern tribal belt. The airstrikes hit eight houses and militant bases, including one run by the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, a group that claimed responsibility for carrying out the Karachi attack, in cooperation with the Pakistani Taliban. That assault left at least 36 people dead.
Yet the military offered no details about how many troops were involved or how the operation would be carried out.
The military’s official spokesman said that more than 50 fighters had been killed, but some security officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, suggested that the toll could be higher, possibly more than 150 people. Those accounts could not be independently confirmed because the movements of journalists are restricted in the region.
Local news media reported that the prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, would address the lower house of Parliament on Monday to discuss the operation.
In a statement, the military press office said that the targets of the attack were “linked with planning” the assault on the Karachi airport and that most of the dead were fighters from Uzbekistan. An ammunition depot was also destroyed, it said.
At least two opposition parties said they would support the drive, and there was a broad sentiment of support for the military on television and on social media.
In a separate wave of attacks, helicopter gunships and artillery fired on militant targets in Mir Ali, another militant hub in North Waziristan, the security official said. Local residents said that the villages of Haiderkhel and Khaisor had been hit. The military released no information about casualties from those attacks.
“The time has come to reclaim our country,” Yasir Latif Hamdani, a lawyer from Lahore, wrote on Twitter.
One local resident said that dozens of civilians had been killed in the attacks. “Jets indiscriminately bombed houses where many civilians were residing,” said the resident, Hajji Haider Khan, a tribal elder, speaking by telephone. Mr. Khan said that because of a curfew imposed on the area, “we cannot collect our bodies from the debris.”
Security officials in the major cities said they were bracing for possible Taliban reprisals, particularly in the form of suicide bombings, and announced increased security measures across the country.
The military’s announcement of its long-anticipated offensive in the tribal region followed the attacks on the militant hide-outs, but it was not possible to immediately confirm whether there were any further attacks as part of the announced offensive on Sunday.
The initial focus, though, is likely to be in the tribal belt, a notoriously treacherous area that has frustrated conventional armies since the days of the British Raj. In recent years only American drone strikes managed to successfully penetrate the militant presence in North Waziristan, although critics said they had come at a cost of civilian casualties and the inflaming of anti-American opinion across Pakistan.
For months the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has hesitated over launching an offensive against the militants in North Waziristan, preferring instead to talk with the militants and try to negotiate a peace settlement.
Attempts by the Pakistani military to restrict the Taliban had limited success, either because the militants managed to flee into adjoining areas, or because the army was adhering to its much-criticized policy of siding with one militant group against another.
But the peace efforts have effectively collapsed in recent weeks, and the military has carried out limited strikes against militant targets in North Waziristan. The militants’ audacious attack on Karachi airport, which briefly closed the country’s busiest airport, has further strengthened the hand of officials, including senior generals, who have indicated that a major offensive against the militants is imminent.
In the days after the Karachi assault, military officials hinted that plans were underway for a major operation in the northwestern tribal area. And last week, American drones attacked militant targets twice in the region after an almost six-month lull during which Pakistani officials tried and failed to negotiate a peace deal with the Taliban.
Local residents are fleeing the tribal areas amid reports of an impending offensive. A senior official in Islamabad said that 59,000 people had left for neighboring districts. Afghan officials say that 6,000 have taken refuge in southwestern Khost Province, which borders North Waziristan.
The military said it had been “tasked to eliminate these terrorists regardless of hue and color, along with their sanctuaries.”
Pakistani government officials in North Waziristan have been advised to evacuate their families, the official said. “People are packing up,” he said. “This is an indication of the coming military operation. It can be any day now.”
Although an operation in North Waziristan is a longstanding demand of American officials, it also carries significant strategic and political risks for Pakistani political and military leaders.
But it is unclear which militant groups an operation would target. Although the Pakistani military is opposed to the Pakistani Taliban, it has a more complex relationship with other militant groups in the tribal belt, including the Haqqani network, which has ties to Pakistani intelligence agencies and avoids directly attacking the Pakistani military.
Mr. Sharif worries that Taliban reprisals could focus on Punjab, the country’s wealthiest province and his electoral base. He tried to avoid a military campaign by initiating peace talks with the Taliban in February, but that initiative effectively collapsed amid Taliban infighting and continued suicide bombings in Pakistan’s major cities that were apparently the work of Taliban splinter groups.
A military offensive against the Pakistani Taliban and their allied forces, like the Uzbeks, risks provoking a wider conflict with forces like the Haqqanis or the local warlord Hafiz Gul Bahadur, who has also avoided attacking the army.
The military, at the same time, intends to disable the Taliban while not upsetting its relationship with other groups — a delicate demand in a fight that is likely to be waged, at least in its early stages, with artillery salvos and fighter jet attacks.
The military has told a local council of tribal elders that they have until June 21 to expel foreign militants, an ultimatum thought to mostly apply to Uzbek fighters. Residents said that the council had planned to meet on Sunday, but the elder who was to convene the meeting could not travel because of the curfew.
Pakistani intelligence has traditionally had a close relationship with the Haqqani network, a powerful militant group based in North Waziristan that has close ties to both the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban, and which has generally avoided attacking the army. Haqqani militants were believed to have held Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl for much of his five years in captivity, until his release on May 31 in exchange for five Taliban commanders.
Mr. Sharif is expected to address the lower house of Parliament on Monday. The military operation has garnered the support of at least two major opposition political parties, the Pakistan Peoples Party of former President Asif Ali Zardari, and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, led by the exiled Karachi politician Altaf Hussain.
Initial indications from the military were that it would focus its firepower on the other jihadis, particularly Uzbeks affiliated with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which claimed responsibility for the attack on the Karachi airport.
In the capital, Islamabad, army officers were being deployed to secure high-profile locations in the city, television channels reported, and security at large jails across the country was being stepped up.
The military said the airstrikes on Sunday morning hit an Uzbek base and seven other targets that were “linked with planning” the Karachi attack.
The largest city, Karachi, where last week’s Taliban attack took place, and the surrounding province of Sindh have been placed on high alert, the Karachi police said. “We were already on high alert after the attack on the Karachi airports,” said the inspector general of the Sindh police, Iqbal Mehmood. Mr. Mehmood said there had been some warnings about potential attacks, but the government had increased security measures.
Among the targets of Sunday’s air attacks was a house where Abdur Rehman, a senior commander of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, was believed to be staying, said the security official in Peshawar. “We don’t know if he was there, but it has been hit,” the official said.
While military operations in the tribal areas, and in other areas in northwestern Pakistan like Swat, have led to an influx of internally displaced people to Karachi, the Sindh government said it did not have any plan in place to prepare for any people fleeing the conflict. “We will see what the federal government says and if they recognize these people as I.D.P.'s,” said Syed Waqar Mehdi, a special assistant to the Sindh chief minister. “But we will not accept terrorists entering the province under the cover” of internally displaced people.
Away from the tribal belt, Pakistanis were bracing for possible reprisals. Army officers were ordered to secure prominent locations in the capital of Islamabad, television channels reported. Security at jails across the country was stepped up.
Among the targets of Sunday’s air attacks was a house where Abdur Rehman, a senior commander of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, was believed to be staying, said the security official in Peshawar. “We don’t know if he was there but it has been hit,” he said.
The police in Karachi, the country’s largest city, said they were on high alert.
One Taliban vowed to retaliate after the overnight airstrikes. “We will certainly avenge the killing of both our fighters and innocent civilians,” said the commander, who spoke on the condition of anonymity when reached by phone because he is not an official Taliban spokesman.
Though military operations in the tribal areas, and in areas in the northwest of Pakistan like Swat, have led to an influx of ethnic Pashtuns to Sindh Province, which includes Karachi, the provincial government said it did not have any plan in place to prepare for people fleeing the conflict.
Syed Waqar Mehdi, a special assistant to the Sindh chief minister, said the authorities there were awaiting orders from the federal government. “But,” he added, “we will not accept terrorists entering the province” in the guise of internal refugees.
In the tribal belt, the military announcement was met with widespread trepidation. “The government should have informed us before launching an operation,” Abdul Rehman Wazir, a cloth merchant said by telephone from Miram Shah, the main town in North Waziristan. “We have started packing but we don’t know if we will be able to leave safely.”
Early Sunday, officials estimated that 70,000 residents of North Waziristan had fled into adjoining areas. Afghan officials estimated that 6,000 had crossed into Khost, an Afghan province that borders North Waziristan.
One Taliban member vowed to retaliate after the overnight airstrikes. “We will certainly avenge the killing of both our fighters and innocent civilians,” said the commander, who spoke on the condition of anonymity when reached by telephone because he is not an official Taliban spokesman.
