NATO forces pick up aide of militant commander in Pakistani tribal area

The NATO and Afghan forces in a joint operation have captured a close companion of Pakistan's local militant commander Baitullah Mehsud in Pakistan's tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, according to a DAWN newspaper report on Friday.

Two military helicopters landed on March 7 in Shawal area of Pakistan's North Waziristan and armed personnel captured Hakimullah Mehsud, the report quoting unnamed informed sources said.

During the operation, five foreign comrades of Hakimullah Mehsud reportedly escaped.

Hakimullah was flown into Afghanistan for interrogation, according to the report.

But DAWN notes that security officials in Pakistan's northwest city of Peshawar expressed ignorance about the incursion of NATO forces in the tribal areas.

Baitullah Mehsud is a prominent militant commander based in Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal region.

NATO forces had intensified their aerial activities over the tribal areas in view of a spring offensive likely to be launched by Afghanistan-based Taliban fighters, said the report.

In a related development, the Pakistan army reportedly has started fencing selected areas along the Pakistan-Afghan border in the tribal areas.

Pakistani government have sent around 80,000 troops to the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan to hunt foreign militants since joining the Washington-led international war on terror in 2001.

Many al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters sneaked into Pakistan's northwest tribal areas to seek shelter from local tribespeople following the fall of Afghan Taliban regime in 2001.

Source: Xinhua