PESHAWAR, Pakistan, (Reuters) – Pakistani warplanes and artillery pounded a Taliban stronghold yesterday, as a suicide bomber killed 12 people in the city of Peshawar in the latest in a bloody wave of militant attacks.
The government says a ground offensive against the Pakistani Taliban in their South Waziristan lair is imminent and the army has been stepping up its air and artillery attacks in recent days to soften up the militants’ defences.
The militants have launched a string of brazen attacks in the past 11 days, striking at the United Nations, the army headquarters, police and the general public, killing about 150 people, apparently trying to stave off the army assault.
Yesterday’s blast was outside an office of the police’s Central Investigation Agency in the capital of North West Frontier Province, a staging post for U.S. supplies into Afghanistan.
