U.S. drones hit Pakistan militants; Taliban leader hurt

By Alamgir Bitani

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - U.S. drones attacked militants in northwest Pakistan twice on Wednesday, killing more than 40 fighters, security officials said, while the army said the Taliban chief in Swat had been wounded.

The attacks by the pilotless U.S. aircraft were in the South Waziristan region on the Afghan border, a stronghold of Pakistani Taliban leader and al Qaeda ally Baitullah Mehsud.

The Pakistan army is preparing an offensive against Mehsud, who the military says is responsible for 90 percent of terrorist attacks in Pakistan. The government said he plotted the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007.

The United States, grappling with an intensifying Afghan insurgency, began stepping up attacks by drones on northwestern Pakistani militant enclaves a year ago.

But Pakistan officially objects to the strikes on its soil, saying they violate its sovereignty and undermine its efforts to deal with militancy by inflaming public anger and bolstering support for the militants.

A drone fired several missiles at a militant convoy in the second attack of the day, Pakistani intelligence officials said.

"The Taliban appeared to be shifting to another place when they were hit," said one of the intelligence agency officials. He and another intelligence official, as well as residents, said at least 40 militants were killed.

NO "HIGH-VALUE TARGET"

Earlier on Wednesday, U.S. drones fired six missiles into a Pakistani Taliban training camp in another part of South Waziristan, killing six militants, government and intelligence agency officials said.

There were no reports of any "high-value target" being killed in either of the drone attacks.

But a Pakistani military spokesman said the leader of the Taliban in Swat, Fazlullah, had been wounded in an air strike by Pakistani aircraft there on Monday.

"In one of the strikes Fazlullah has been injured," military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas told a briefing, citing "credible information."

A fiery self-proclaimed Muslim cleric, Fazlullah, has been on the run since the military launched the offensive in the picturesque valley once popular with tourists.

U.S. President Barack Obama has made defeating al Qaeda and stabilizing Afghanistan a top priority and Pakistan has a crucial role to play in achieving that.

The United States has announced a reward of $5 million for information leading to Mehsud's arrest or location, while Pakistan last month posted a reward of 50 million rupees ($615,000) for him.