Pakistan bombs Taliban hideouts after week of carnage

ISLAMABAD, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan fighter jets pounded Taliban sanctuaries in the northwest border areas on Tuesday, as the militant group claimed responsibility for the latest attack in a wave of attacks which have killed 125 people in a week, local media reported.

Fighter jets launched another round of bombing raids killing six suspected insurgents in South Waziristan, the semi-autonomous region bordering Afghanistan and a known stronghold of Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked rebels, officials said.

Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik, meanwhile, vowed to wipe out the Islamist extremist threat in Pakistan, with a fierce military operation into the Taliban's mountain sanctuaries believed to be imminent.

The army claims to have already quashed militants in the one-time tourist paradise of Swat valley, but on Monday a teenage suicide bomber struck in the neighboring northwest district of Shangla, killing 45 people.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for that attack, with spokesman Azam Tariq telling media: "This is revenge for our martyrs... This is part of the series of attacks that we are carrying out. Wait and see more."

The group has also claimed responsibility for a weekend hostage drama at army headquarters which hit at the heart of one of the most powerful institutions in the nation.