Major operation on cards to capture Baitullah Mehsud: Pak minister

Islamabad, Jan 8 : Pakistan's Caretaker Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz has said that a major operation is being started in Waziristan to arrest Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud.

Nawaz said a major operation to capture Mehsud is being started, and added that the operation would be launched soon after revealing his hideout in Waziristan.

He said Pakistani intelligence agencies were hunting Mehsud.

"We will try our level best to capture him alive so that his accomplices can be traced," Nawaz said.

The Daily Times quoted Nawaz as saying that no foreign forces would be allowed to launch an operation in Pakistan.

Earlier, Mehsud militants attacked offices of a pro-government militant, killing nine and wounding eight of them.

The attackers first stormed the office of Maulvi Nazir in Wana and killed three of his supporters and wounded four others, sources said.

The militants, equipped with rockets and heavy weapons, launched another attack on the office of Maulvi Nazir's close aide, Maulvi Khanan, in Shakai town, killing six people and wounding five others.

A spokesman for Maulvi Nazir blamed Baitullah Mehsud's supporters for the attack, and asked all Mahsud tribesmen to leave the Wazir tribe-dominated areas to avoid bloodshed.

"We suspect Baitullah and his Uzbek supporters for this gruesome attack which left nine Mujahideen dead," Lala Wazir said.

A large number of attackers, he said, came from the Mehsud area at night and attacked the local peace committee offices in Wana and Shakai areas. He said the culprits would be punished after completion of investigations.

ANI