Pakistan will initiate a manhunt to track down Taliban supreme leader Mullah Omar and al-Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri, media reports said Thursday.
The search operation is to be launched in the north-western and south-western regions of the country along the mountainous Afghan border, said The News, an English-language daily.
"It is learnt that the Pakistani security forces will launch a massive search operation not only in Quetta but also in the no-go areas of North Waziristan."
"The aim is to catch Mullah Omar or Egyptian-born Dr Ayman al-Zawahiri as soon as possible if they are hiding somewhere in Pakistan," it said, DPA reported.
It is believed that Omar is leading the Quetta Shura, the top decision-making body of Taliban fighting in Afghanistan, from Quetta, the capital of the south-western province of Baluchistan.
North Waziristan is considered a major safe haven of the al-Qaeda-linked Haqqani group. The United States has asked Pakistan several times to launch operations to eliminate terror networks.
The decision to try to track down the most-wanted fugitives comes after Pakistan came under immense pressure for failing to honour commitments to fight terrorists. US forces killed Osama bin Laden early Monday morning in Abbottabad, 60 kilometres north-east Islamabad.
The paper also warned that the operation against the Omar and al-Zawahiri could trigger a new wave of suicide bombings in Pakistan, which may further destabilize the only Muslim country with nuclear weapons.
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