WASHINGTON, Jan 11: A senior US military official said on Friday that the United States had grave concerns about the internal dimensions of the Fata conflict which had escalated violence inside Pakistan.

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a briefing at the Pentagon that the United States would like to work with Pakistan to address this problem.

“Clearly, this is up to the government of Pakistan. And as in many relationships to assist them where it makes sense, makes a lot of sense to me,” said the admiral when asked if he would want the US military to operate in those regions, presumably with Pakistani cooperation.

“Fata continues to be of grave concern to us, both in the near term and the long term,” he said. “It’s having a significant impact, not just in Afghanistan … there are concerns now about how much they’ve turned inwards, literally, inside Pakistan.”

US intelligence officials have blamed Al Qaeda and Taliban militants in the tribal region for carrying out recent terrorist attacks inside Pakistan, including the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and Thursday’s suicide bombing that killed 24 people, including 20 policemen, in Lahore.

Adm Mullen claimed that terrorist bases in Fata also were providing “planning, training and financing” facilities to Al Qaeda’s networks across the world.