Pak Army Will Chase Militants Wherever Needed

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi says that Islamabad will chase terrorists to rid the country of the menace of terrorism, Press TV reported.

Talking to reporters on Friday, Qureshi said that military operations will be carried out wherever needed, adding that "we will have to face the terrorists wherever they are and chase them to defeat terrorism", a Press TV correspondent reported late Friday.

The minister said that a well thought-out strategy was adopted in Malakand and Swat by virtue of which tribal people are supporting the government, while they have formed Lashkars (civil militia) and are asking the miscreants to leave the area. "That is how the operation will move ahead," he added.

He also said that if foreign elements exist in the Waziristan region, they will also be chased.

Meanwhile, the country's Interior Minister Rehman Malik said a Waziristan operation is targeting Tehrik-e-Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud and his accomplices.

Malik said the operation is against the militants and it would continue until the complete elimination of terrorist elements.

The Pakistan army says that it had killed over 1,600 militants in a two-month long offensive against the Taliban in the area.