Pak militants relocate to heartland: WP

WASHINGTON - Pakistani militants, who are under attack in their tribal regions, are fleeing to cities in the countrys heartland, The Washington Post reported Saturday.
Citing US and Pakistani officials, the newspaper said the move by insurgents to establish smaller cells within Pakistani cities is an unintended consequence of the largely successful campaigns by the Pakistan army and unmanned CIA aircraft in tribal regions such as South Waziristan.
Muhammad Amir Rana, director of the Pak Institute for Peace Studies, a security-oriented think tank, told the Post: Now theyre all over - Afghanistan, North Waziristan and inside Pakistan. They have scattered their network and structure. Its easy for many of them to hide in Punjab or Karachi. Pakistani officials reportedly say theyre doing all they can to prevent terrorism in such areas as Punjab province, where a wave of attacks has been blamed on fighters who have fled the tribal areas. But, the Post said, US intelligence officials have been frustrated by opposition from the Pakistani government to expanding their use of drone strikes beyond the tribal belt. Citing unnamed Pakistani officials, it reported that targeting outside the tribal zone for drone attacks could produce a powerful anti-American backlash in the country.
Until this week, the pace of reported drone strikes in the tribal areas had been off sharply from summer highs, the Post said.
Although 2009 has set a record - 50 drone strikes, compared with 31 last year - the tempo declined this fall from six or seven per month to about two, according to a tally by the non-profit group Long War Journal. In addition, until last week, there had been a three-month lull in reported deaths of senior al-Qaeda or Taliban operatives.