PESHAWAR (Pakistan) - PAKISTAN pounded Taleban bases from the air and bore down on their leader's hometown on Sunday, intensifying a major offensive against the Islamists which it said had killed 60 militants.
More than 100,000 people have fled South Waziristan, part of the tribal belt on the Afghan border that US officials call the most dangerous place on earth, staying with relatives or renting accommodation to escape the fighting.
I can name any evil under the sun and you have done it.
Thousands of Al-Qaeda-linked fighters are holed up in the tribal belt, where the army says the offensive is concentrated on strongholds of the Tehreek-e-Taleban (TTP) movement.
On the second day of the offensive, Taleban armed with rockets and heavy weapons put up strong resistance at Sharwangi, an area of impenetrable forest high in the mountains as fighter jets bombed positions, officials said.
The military said 60 Taleban followers had been killed, although the region is cut off from the outside world and information on militant casualties is impossible to independently verify. 'In last 24 hours, reportedly 60 terrorists have been killed in operation Rah-e-Nijat,' the military said in a statement. 'Casualties of security forces are five soldiers (dead) and 11 are injured.'
Ground forces launched the three-pronged push on Saturday, starting a much-anticipated assault in a bid to crush networks blamed for some of the worst attacks that have killed more than 2,250 people over the past two years. -- AFP
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