Pakistani forces exchanged heavy fire yesterday with Taliban defending their heartland, a day after launching an offensive aimed at bringing the writ of the state to lawless lands on the Afghan border.
The army said 60 militants and five soldiers had been killed in the first 24 hours of a long-awaited offensive on the global Islamist hub of South Waziristan. Soldiers were securing territory, while some militants were fleeing, it said.
There was no independent verification of militant casualties.
The offensive follows a string of brazen militant attacks in different parts of the country, including an assault on army headquarters, in which more than 150 people were killed.
About 28,000 troops are battling an estimated 10,000 hardcore Taliban, including about 1,000 tough Uzbek fighters and some Arab al-Qaeda members.
The militants have had years to prepare their defenses in the land of arid mountains and sparse forest cut by dried-up creeks and ravines.
The army says it has surrounded the militants in their main zone, a wedge of territory in the north of South Waziristan, and soldiers backed by aircraft and artillery are attacking from the north, southwest and southeast.
Government forces pushing down from the north were clashing with militants in Nawaz Kot town, intelligence officials and residents said.
“There was heavy firing until midnight and in the morning I saw tanks moving in, and Taliban were firing rocket-propelled grenades,” said villager Gul Nawaz, who lives near Nawaz Kot.
The army has launched brief offensives in South Waziristan before, the first in 2004 when it suffered heavy casualties before striking a peace pact.
Security officials said soldiers advancing from the southwest met dogged resistance as they tried to push into the Taliban-held town of Khaisora early yesterday.
Soldiers moving from the southeast captured a Taliban stronghold at Spinkai Raghzai on Saturday after the militants took refuge in nearby mountains, officials said.
A Taliban spokesman, however, said the army was being repulsed and he vowed attacks on supporters of US President Barack Obama.
“They’re trying to enter our land from all sides, but we’ve repulsed their assault and they’ve suffered heavy losses,” spokesman Azam Tariq said by telephone.
One Taliban had been killed and three wounded, he said.
“The government has put the country’s sovereignty at stake to please Obama ... we’ll attack his well-wishers everywhere.”
Up to 100,000 civilians have fled from South Waziristan in anticipation of the offensive, the army said, while the UN said 500 people were leaving every day.
Pakistani Taliban made advances toward Islamabad early this year, raising fears about the stability of the US ally, but significant military gains in the Swat valley, northwest of Islamabad, have reassured the US and other allies about Pakistan’s commitment to the fight.
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