Hundreds of militants out to attack Pak cities: Report

Islamabad: Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud has despatched his top five commanders and 300 militants to carry out terrorist attacks in Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Lahore, a newspaper reported on Sunday.

The five Taliban commanders will supervise terrorist operations, including suicide bombings, planned by Mehsud and the Taliban Himayat Tehrik in the cities, The News reported quoting unnamed sources in the Interior Ministry.

The Taliban commanders were identified by intelligence agencies as Shikaari, Inayatullah, Walid, Mujahid and Abdali, the newspaper said.

A security official told the newspaper the Taliban commanders left the North Waziristan Agency for Islamabad on April 11 along with an explosives-laden Toyota Corolla car.

The sources, quoting an intelligence report, said about 300 terrorists and suicide bombers would reach Islamabad with the five commanders.

However, law enforcement agencies are unaware whether the militants have reached their destination or postponed their operation, the official said.

Interior Secretary Kamal Shah confirmed the report and said foolproof security measures have been adopted to thwart the threats. "The law enforcement agencies have chalked out counter strategies to deal with the situation," he said.

America’s Pakistan headache

The report on Taliban’s conspiracy comes at a time when the US has expressed its concern about Pakistan’s nuclear arms falling into the hands of militants.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Pakistanis must regain control of their country before the “unthinkable” happens. "One of our concerns, which we've raised with the Pakistani government and military, is that if the worst, the unthinkable were to happen, and this advancing Taliban encouraged and supported by al-Qaeda and other extremists were to essentially topple the government for failure to beat them back -- then they would have the keys to the nuclear arsenal of Pakistan," Clinton told Fox News channel.

"We can't even contemplate that. We cannot, you know, let this go on any further. Which is why we're pushing so hard for the Pakistanis to come together around a strategy to take their country back," Clinton said, three days after she asked the Pakistani leadership of basically abdicating to the advancing Taliban.

Clinton said the US has been assured by Pakistani officials and the military that their nuclear weapons were in "safe" hands.