Top Pak army commander says 'military operation in North Waziristan imminent'

Islamabad, May 9 (ANI): A top Pakistani military commander has indicated that the army would launch operations in North Waziristan soon, where terrorists recently beheaded 13 soldiers.

Lt Gen Khalid Rabbani, the corps commander for Peshawar, however, did not mention when this would happen, or whether it would target all factions in the region.

"Something has to be done, and it's in the offing". Lt. Gen. Rabbani, who commands over 150,000 soldiers and paramilitary forces in the rugged northwest, said during an interview with an American Press agency.

"North Waziristan is the only region we haven't cleared. It should be done as early as possible," he added.

Rabbani was speaking a day after terrorists in North Waziristan killed 13 Pakistani soldiers, including four that it captured when Pakistani troops raided a militant hideout.

According to The Daily Times, the killings highlighted the dilemma facing the military in dealing with an area used by both the country's fiercest enemies, the Pakistani Taliban and Al-Qaeda, and Afghan and Pakistani terrorists who are battling U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan, but who the army believes do not pose a direct threat to Islamabad.

Lt Gen Khalid Rabbani also accused the U.S. of seeking to make Pakistan a scapegoat for its failure to beat the insurgency in Afghanistan.

"Why do they to raise their fingers toward Pakistan? It is shifting the blame to others. Is Afghanistan free of Taliban? It has hundreds of thousands of them," the paper quoted him, as saying. (ANI)