US asks Pakistan to launch military offensive against militants

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States yesterday prodded Pakistan's military ruler Pervez Musharraf to launch a military offensive against militants hiding in a tribal border region with Afghanistan following the collapse of a 10-month peace accord.

"I think first and foremost we have to remember that some military action is necessary, and will probably have to be taken," Assistant Secretary of State for South and central Asian affairs Richard Boucher said.

He also said that the United States was prepared to help upgrade the Pakistan military, particularly its "frontier corps" that forms the bulk of the estimated 85,000 military forces in the tribal and border regions.

Boucher spoke after a week of violence in North Waziristan, a remote frontier region where militant leaders over the weekend renounced a September accord with Islamabad.

The peace pact in the stronghold of Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants had been heavily criticized by the United States and Afghanistan.

Pakistani authorities have made intense efforts to shore up the peace accord since the Taliban pulled out on Saturday, knowing that without it, they risk fresh violence in a region thought to contain many militants.