Pakistan, U.S. reportedly launch airstrikes in escalating offensive

Pakistani fighter jets and CIA drone aircraft pounded targets in North Waziristan on Wednesday, local officials reported, killing more than 50 suspected militants in separate attacks that reflected a widening military campaign in the restive tribal area.

Pakistani security officials also said they had arrested a major militant leader convicted of a 2003 assassination attempt on former military ruler Pervez Musharraf. Adnan Rashid, an air force technician-turned-insurgent, was caught four days earlier after fleeing North Waziristan, according to local tribal leaders and intelligence sources who were not authorized to be quoted by name.

Rashid, who reportedly was arrested along with several associates in the Shakai area of neighboring South Waziristan, was a senior commander in the Pakistani Taliban, an insurgent group attempting to overthrow the Pakistani government. Originally arrested in 2004, he escaped in a prison break in 2012 and became head of the insurgent group’s efforts to free other prisoners.

The Pakistani Taliban did not immediately confirm the arrest.

His apparent capture came as local officials reported that the CIA had carried out its fifth drone strike in as many weeks in North Waziristan, killing at least 20 suspected militants in a pre-dawn attack in the Datta Khel area, near the border with Afghanistan. The U.S. routinely does not confirm such raids.

If confirmed, it was the deadliest drone attack in Pakistan this year as part of what is widely seen as an escalation in the U.S. campaign, which had been paused for six months before resuming in June. Four missiles were fired at a compound and one vehicle also was struck, officials said.

Security officials, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue, said at least 12 Uzbek nationals were among the dead. It was not possible to verify the official reports because most of North Waziristan remains sealed off to journalists.

An apparent U.S. drone strike last week in Datta Khel reportedly killed between four and six militants. Other airstrikes since June 11 have targeted fighters with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, an insurgent group that has claimed involvement in recent terror attacks in Pakistan, as well as the Haqqani Network, which is blamed for major attacks on U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

Pakistan officially opposes the U.S. drone strikes, calling them a violation of its sovereignty. But the attacks have coincided with a monthlong Pakistani military offensive aimed at flushing insurgent groups out of North Waziristan.

Pakistani fighter jets bombarded a group of insurgents fleeing the Shawal area of North Waziristan, killing 35, officials said.

Pakistani officials say that more than 400 militants have been killed in the operation, which has also forced 1 million people to flee their homes. Soldiers have cleared Miram Shah, the administrative headquarters of North Waziristan, and were focusing on the second-largest town, Mir Ali, according to official accounts.

But analysts and residents say that most militants fled North Waziristan before the offensive began, with many reportedly sneaking across the border into Afghanistan and contributing to worsening instability there. One of the deadliest bombings in Afghanistan since 2001 occurred Tuesday in Paktika province, which borders North Waziristan, when a truck bomb exploded in a busy market, killing scores of civilians.

Special correspondent Ali reported from Peshawar and special correspondent Sahi from Islamabad, Pakistan. Times staff writer Shashank Bengali in Mumbai, India, contributed to this report.