PESHAWAR, Pakistan, (Reuters) – Pakistani warplanes  and artillery pounded a Taliban stronghold yesterday, as a  suicide bomber killed 12 people in the city of Peshawar in the  latest in a bloody wave of militant attacks.

The government says a ground offensive against the  Pakistani Taliban in their South Waziristan lair is imminent  and the army has been stepping up its air and artillery attacks  in recent days to soften up the militants’ defences.

The militants have launched a string of brazen attacks in  the past 11 days, striking at the United Nations, the army  headquarters, police and the general public, killing about 150  people, apparently trying to stave off the army assault.
Yesterday’s blast was outside an office of the police’s  Central Investigation Agency in the capital of North West  Frontier Province, a staging post for U.S. supplies into  Afghanistan.