Pakistan widens Taliban offensive

BANNU, Pakistan: The Pakistani army attacked an area bordering a militant stronghold near the Waziristan tribal region yesterday, killing scores of Taliban fighters with helicopter gunships and artillery shelling, officials said.

Already in the final stages of an operation to clear Islamist fighters from the Swat valley, far to the northwest and closer to Islamabad, the military said it went on the offensive in Bannu district after up to 800 militants infiltrated from Waziristan.

According to local military officials and a senior civilian official in Bannu well over 100 militants have been killed since the army swung into action on Wednesday.