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Conflicting reports emerge a day after thousands of soldiers launched an offensive against the Taliban and Al Qaeda in South Waziristan. 'We have not been weakened,' a Taliban spokesman says.Reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan - On the second day of Pakistan's major offensive to uproot the Taliban from tribal areas along the Afghan border, the military claimed to have killed 60 militants, while the Taliban countered that it had fended off the troops' initial surge. Wildly differing interpretations of progress being made on both sides are expected to continue as the military pushes forward with its most crucial ground operation so...

Pakistan Closes In On Taliban Leader's South Waziristan Strongholds Pakistan's armed forces are closing in on the stronghold of Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud, with heavy losses reported on both sides. By Saeed Shah in Lahore and Daud Khan in Peshawar 18 Oct 2009 Troops were advancing towards the towns of Makeen and Ladha in the mountainous region of South Waziristan, in a military offensive that could prove decisive in the country's struggle against Islamic extremism. On the second day of the long-awaited ground operation, soldiers on three sides approached the area held by the fearsome Mehsud tribe, which forms the...

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan – Pakistani troops and the Taliban fought fierce battles Sunday in a militant sanctuary near the Afghan border, with both sides claiming early victories in an army campaign that could shape the future of the country's battle against extremism. A Taliban spokesman vowed the Islamist militants would fight to "our last drop of blood" to defend their stronghold of South Waziristan, .. Victory for the government in South Waziristan's tribal badlands would eliminate a safe haven for the Taliban militants blamed for surging terrorist attacks and the al-Qaida operatives they shelter there. .. Defeat would give...

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan – More than 30,000 Pakistani soldiers launched a ground offensive against al-Qaida and the Taliban's main stronghold along the Afghan border Saturday, officials said, in the country's toughest test yet against a strengthening insurgency. The United States has long pushed the government to carry out an assault in South Waziristan, and it comes after two weeks of militant attacks that have killed more than 175 people across the nuclear-armed country. That has ramped up pressure on the army to act. Pakistan has fought three unsuccessful campaigns since 2001 in the region, which is the nerve-center for...

ISLAMABAD – The Pakistani military is setting its sights on the Taliban's remote sanctuary after nearly two weeks of big bombings across the country, as hundreds flee the Afghan border region each day before what promises to be the army's riskiest offensive yet. With the first snows of winter less than two months away, the army has limited time to mount a major ground attack. The U.S. is racing to send in night vision goggles and other equipment. The Pakistani military insists it's sealing off supply and escape routes, forcing the militants to rely on goat paths. The army has...

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan (AFP) – A US drone missile attack on a suspected militant hideout in a remote tribal area in northwest Pakistan early Thursday killed at least four people, security officials said. The pre-dawn strike targeted the suspected militant compound in Dandey Darpa Khel in the North Waziristan region near the Afghan border, a security official said. "It was a drone strike and initial reports said at least three people were killed and several wounded," the official said, requesting anonymity. A senior security official later said four people were killed and six wounded. A third security official said two missiles...

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) – Pakistani fighter jets Tuesday killed six suspected militants in fresh strikes on Taliban strongholds in the northwest, the target of an expected ground operation, officials said. The strikes in South Waziristan come after a militant hostage siege at army headquarters near Islamabad left 23 people dead at the weekend, the latest in a surge in suicide blasts and attacks blamed on the Taliban. The government and military have vowed to launch an all-out offensive in South Waziristan to hunt down the militant leadership, but the timing of the offensive remains unclear. Air strikes have been ongoing...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama and his Afghanistan war council turn to Pakistan Wednesday, exactly eight years after the first thunderous US air raids heralded a conflict that still lacks an exit strategy. Obama will gather top security, military and political advisors in the secure White House Situation Room for a third in-depth meeting on Afghan policy as he mulls whether to pitch thousands more troops into the unpopular war. On Tuesday, the president told lawmakers he had no intention of reducing the US military footprint in Afghanistan, which will reach 68,000 troops by the end of this year,...

KABUL (AFP) – Over 100 Taliban fighters were killed in a weekend clash that left eight US soldiers dead, NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said Tuesday. "A more detailed battlefield assessment following the October 3 attack in Nuristan has determined that enemy forces suffered more than 100 dead during the well-coordinated defence -- significantly higher losses than originally thought," a statement said. Hundreds of militant fighters on Saturday swept down a remote hillside at dawn near the mountainous border with Pakistan to attack two Afghan army and NATO outposts. The resulting firefight lasted into the night and prompted US...

KABUL (Reuters) – NATO forces said Tuesday they had killed more that 100 fighters in a huge weekend battle in eastern Afghanistan in which eight Americans died, the deadliest firefight for U.S. troops in more than a year. The revised enemy death toll gives an idea of the scale of the battle, one of the biggest of the eight-year-old war, in which hundreds of fighters armed with machine guns, rifles and rocket-propelled grenades attempted to storm remote outposts. "A more detailed battlefield assessment following the October 3 attack in Nuristan has determined that enemy forces suffered more than 100 dead...

SARAROGHA, Pakistan – Flanked by heavily armed fighters, the new leader of the Pakistani Taliban sat on a blue blanket, amiable and relaxed as he cracked jokes and mixed in threats of vengeance for deadly U.S. airstrikes. One day later, a suicide bomber attacked a U.N. office in Islamabad. Hakimullah Mehsud met with reporters Sunday for the first time since winning control of the militant group, quashing speculation that he had been slain in a succession struggle following the killing of his predecessor in a U.S. drone attack. He also described his group's relationship to al-Qaida as one of "love...

PESHAWAR: After fighting brief skirmishes against militants, the Pakistan Army plans to unfold in the next few days what military officials characterise as the mother of all battles in South Waziristan, senior military and security officials said on Thursday. ‘If we don’t take the battle to them, they will bring the battle to us,’ a senior military official said of the militants. ‘The epicentre of the behemoth called the Taliban lies in South Waziristan, and this is where we will be fighting the toughest of all battles.’ For three months, the military has been drawing up plans, holding in-depth deliberations...

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Taliban new chief Hakimullah Mehsud's brother was among 15 militants killed in two US drone attacks in the country's lawless tribal belt, reports said on Wednesday. Hakimullah's brother Kalimullah was among six militants who were killed in the first drone attack in the Sararogha area of South Waziristan Agency yesterday afternoon, Express 24/7 news channel reported. Nine militants were killed in the second drone attack, which was carried out in the evening in the Dandey Darpakhel area of North Waziristan Agency. Several foreigners, including Afghan nationals, were among those killed in the two attacks. Former Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan chief...

An unmanned US strike aircraft fired missiles at the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani Network in Pakistan’s Taliban-controlled tribal area of North Waziristan. Three people were killed in the attack, which took place near a madrassa run by Jalaluddin Haqqani, the patriarch of the notorious Haqqani family, Reuters reported. The exact location of the strike has not been identified at this time, and no senior Taliban or al Qaeda leaders have been reported killed. The Haqqanis run the Manba Ulom madrassa in the town of Danda Darpa Khel just outside of Miramshah in North Waziristan. The US has conducted several strikes on...

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan (AFP) – A US drone missile attack Monday killed four militants in a remote Pakistani tribal town bordering Afghanistan, officials said. The missile targeted a militant vehicle in Toori Khel village in North Waziristan region, they said. "Four militants were killed," a local government official said, requesting anonymity. He added the number of wounded was not immediately known.

Taliban announces surrender in Swat Valley after leader Maulana Fazlullah 'arrested' The Taliban has announced its surrender in Swat Valley, one of its major strongholds until a Pakistan Army offensive regained control earlier this summer. By Emal Khan in Peshawar and Dean Nelson in New Delhi Published: 11:00PM BST 12 Sep 2009 Its announcement, made on one of its pirate radio stations, came as its charismatic leader Maulana Fazlullah was reported to be surrounded by Pakistani troops, and there were claims that he had in fact already been arrested. Their collapse in Swat, if confirmed, will deal a serious blow...

Two senior al Qaeda leaders are among those thought to have been killed in the Sept. 8 Predator strike in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan. Ilyas Kashmiri and Mustafa al Jaziri may have been killed during the strike in the village of Machi Khel near Mir Ali. Unmanned US strike aircraft are reported to have hit a car and a madrassa in the attack, The News reported. Initially five Uzbeks from the Islamic Jihad Group were thought to have been killed, but the report was revised to two Arab al Qaeda members, three Punjabi jihadis, and two or...

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan (Reuters) – A suspected U.S. drone fired missiles into a hideout of Taliban militants in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region on Monday, killing five militants, intelligence officials and residents said. The attack took place near Mir Ali town, a major sanctuary for militants linked to al Qaeda and the Taliban in Pakistan's tribal lands on the Afghan border. "The militants have cordoned off the area and no one is allowed to go to the site of the attack," a resident, who did not want to be identified, told Reuters by telephone. An intelligence official said a fortress-like house...

ISLAMABAD – Helicopter gunships destroyed a training camp for suicide bombers in Pakistan's northwestern Swat Valley, killing six Taliban fighters in an area the government had already declared clear of militants, an official said Saturday. The camp's trainees — including teenagers — were responsible for at least three attacks in recent weeks, an army spokesman said. Pakistan's army says it is restoring security in Swat and surrounding areas after a three-month offensive wrested the valley back from Taliban control, but suicide attacks and skirmishes continue, with reports Saturday of scattered violence killing at least 12 more suspected militants.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) – A US missile strike from a drone aircraft Thursday killed at least eight Taliban militants in a tribal area of northwest Pakistan bordering Afghanistan, Pakistani officials said. The strike was followed hours later by a suicide attack in the northwestern tribal region of Khyber that officials said killed 21 policemen. The US strike "targeted a Taliban compound in Kaniguram village of South Waziristan, killing eight militants and wounding six others," a senior security official told AFP. Another official confirmed the casualties and said that the US drone fired two missiles, but added it was not immediately...