PESHAWAR, Pakistan, (Reuters) – A U.S. drone killed  at least 45 Pakistani Taliban militants yesterday when it  struck after a funeral of an insurgent commander killed earlier  in the day, Pakistani intelligence officials said.

U.S. ally Pakistan officially objects to the strikes by  pilotless U.S. aircraft though the attack came as the Pakistani  army is preparing an offensive against Pakistani Taliban leader  Baitullah Mehsud in South Waziristan on the Afghan border.

The military went on the offensive against Taliban fighters  allied with Mehsud in the Swat Valley, northwest of Islamabad,  in May and are in the final phase of that operation.

The next target is Mehsud.

“Three missiles were fired by drones as people were  dispersing after offering funeral prayers for Niaz Wali,” one  intelligence official said referring to a Taliban commander who  was one of six militants killed in an earlier drone attack.

The army had no information on the attack on the funeral in  the remote area under Mehsud’s control, a military official  said.

Mehsud, an al Qaeda ally accused of plotting the  assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007,  had been in the area but was not hurt, a Taliban official said.

The United States has offered a reward of $5 million for  information leading to Mehsud’s location or arrest.

The offensive in Swat came after Taliban gains raised fears  for the future of nuclear-armed Pakistan, a vital ally for the  United States as it strives to defeat al Qaeda and stabilise  Afghanistan.