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US military wants to stage attacks inside Pakistan

US military commanders operating in Afghanistan have sought permission to attack Pakistani militants hiding in tribal areas inside Pakistan, but so far have been denied it because of diplomatic considerations, the New York Times said on its Web site on Saturday.

Citing unnamed US officials, the paper said senior officials in the administration of US President George W. Bush fear that attacking Pakistani radicals may anger Pakistan’s new government. Pakistani military operations in the tribal areas have slowed to avoid upsetting the negotiations between the country’s government and the militants. US intelligence officials believe the threat emanating from Pakistan’s tribal areas is growing, and that Pakistani Islamist groups there are becoming an ally of al-Qaeda in plotting attacks against Americans and their allies in Afghanistan, the report said.

In light of this, the US military’s proposals included limited cross-border artillery strikes into Pakistan, missile attacks by Predator aircraft or raids by small teams of CIA paramilitary forces or Special Operations forces, the paper said.

The question of attacking Pakistani militants was especially delicate because some militant leaders were believed to still be on the payroll of Pakistan’s intelligence service, the report said.

Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband arrived yesterday in Pakistan for talks on increasing cooperation to combat terrorism, a British embassy spokesman said.

During his two-day visit, Miliband will meet with newly elected Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, said Aidan Liddle, spokesman for the British High Commission.

“It’s a sort of listening visit. He wants to come out and meet the new government and find out what their priorities are,” Liddle said.

Miliband traveled to Peshawar, capital of North West Frontier province, and held talks on regional security with the chief minister and the region’s governor yesterday.

Miliband also met relatives of people who died in recent suicide bombings and other attacks in the province to express sympathy, a government statement said.

He was scheduled to visit a government department in Peshawar responsible for administration of the lawless tribal regions along the border with Afghanistan.

Militants suspected of ties with al-Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban militia operate in the rugged Pakistani tribal regions. US and Afghan government officials believe militants use such havens to orchestrate attacks against the US-backed Afghan government.

Pakistani officials have blamed militants in the tribal regions for a string of suicide attacks in recent months that have killed scores of people, including slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who died in an attack in December.
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