Obama "expands covert war in Pakistan"

The Obama administration has expanded its covert war in Pakistan by attacking militants who are fighting the government there, a report says.

Two missile strikes over the last week on training camps run by Taliban Warlord Baitullah Mehsud were the first such attacks on militants who seek to topple the Pakistani government, the New York Times reported Saturday.

Under the rule of former President George W. Bush, the White House frequently attacked militants from Al Qaeda and the Taliban, but had stopped short of raids aimed at Mehsud and his followers.

The recent drone attacks, therefore, are the harbinger of a widened covert campaign by the US inside Pakistan, the report argues.

The report came after compounds within tribal region were targeted by missile strikes last Saturday and Monday.

The Saturday strike was specifically aimed at Mehsud. The Monday attack was aimed at a camp run by a top aide to the militant. Mehsud was not hit during the attacks.

The strikes, which killed some 60 people in the tribal agency of Kurram, was the fourth since President Barack Obama took office in January.

Mehsud is included in a classified list of militant leaders whom the CIA and American commandos were authorized to capture or kill, the report added.

The tribal regions along the shared border between Pakistan and Afghanistan have become a safe haven for the al-Qaeda and Taliban militants after a US-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001.

The suspected US-drone attacks have been justified by the presence of militants in tribal areas.

The drone strikes have caused hundreds of civilian casualties and have fuelled anti-American sentiment in Pakistan. Islamabad has repeatedly called on the US to halt drone attacks on the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.

There have been 30 strikes since August with 11 top leaders of Al Qaeda taken out, according to intelligence reports.

Obama has said that he is prepared to bomb inside Pakistan if he gets relevant intelligence about the whereabouts of al-Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden.