WRAPUP 1-Pakistan bombs Taliban in Waziristan, 5 shot in Karachi

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* Airstrikes kill dozen militants in South Waziristan

* Police kill 5 militants in Karachi

* Militants intensify attacks across the country

By Hafiz Wazir

WANA, Pakistan, June 27 (Reuters) - Pakistani warplanes killed at least a dozen Taliban fighters on Saturday, in a strike on their stronghold near the Afghan border, while police in the southern city of Karachi shot dead five militants.

U.S. officials have issued a steady stream of praise for Pakistan since the government first took the decision to go on the offensive against the militants over two months ago.

Operations in Swat and Buner, two valleys north of the capital of Islamabad, are in their final stages and the focus has switched to the stronghold of Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud in South Waziristan, a remote tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

The air raid on Saturday on Mehsud's mountainous redoubt was the latest in a series over recent weeks, and the government has already given orders for the military to mount an all-out assault.