MARDAN, Pakistan (AP) — Army helicopters dropped Pakistani commandos behind Taliban lines in the Swat Valley on Tuesday as part of a widening offensive against the militants, while a U.S. missile killed eight people in an attack on a suspected insurgent hideout elsewhere in the northwest.
Choppers inserted troops into the remote Piochar area in the upper reaches of the valley, an army statement said. Officials identified it as the rear-base of an estimated 4,000 Taliban militants also entrenched in Swat's main towns. It is seen as possible hiding place of Swat Taliban chief Maulana Fazlullah. A military spokesman declined to give details of the Piochar assault.
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Also Tuesday, a missile strike destroyed a house in Sara Khora, a village in the South Waziristan tribal region, Pakistani security officials said. The identities of those killed were not immediately known. Two security officials, citing initial intelligence reports, said eight people died. They said agents on the ground were still trying to discover the identities of the victims. The officials asked for anonymity because they are not authorized to speak openly to the media.
Yar Mohammad, a resident of the area, told The Associated Press by telephone that he had seen Taliban militants removing nine bodies from the building and taking them away in vehicles. The discrepancy over the number of deaths could not be reconciled immediately, but was not unusual in the aftermath of such attacks.
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