Pakistani forces pound Taliban in South Waziristan
DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani forces backed by heavy artillery attacked Taliban on Monday as the army moved to wrest control of militant strongholds in a lawless region on the Afghan border.
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.
"There has been artillery fire throughout the night. It was very heavy firing," Noor Wali, a resident of Wana, the main town in the South Waziristan region, said by telephone.
The army said on Sunday that 60 militants and five soldiers had been killed in the first 24 hours of the long-awaited offensive launched on the militants in their South Waziristan bastion, which is a global Islamist hub.
There was no independent verification of the casualty toll.
About 28,000 soldiers are battling an estimated 10,000 hard-core Taliban, including about 1,000 tough Uzbek fighters and some Arab al Qaeda members.
The militants have had years to prepare their bunkers in the land of arid mountains and sparse forests cut through 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.
Foreign reporters are not allowed in to the area, and it is dangerous for Pakistani reporters to visit. Many of the Pakistani reporters based in South Waziristan have left.
The army has launched brief offensives in South Waziristan before, the first in 2004 when it suffered heavy casualties before striking a peace pact.
But this time analysts say the army, the government and the general public all agree the time has come to deal with the Pakistani Taliban.
Though the army is determined, the offensive could be its toughest test since the militants turned on the state, and the army will be hoping Afghan Taliban factions elsewhere in South Waziristan and in North Waziristan stay out of the fight.
CIVILIANS FLEE
About 100,000 civilians have fled from South Waziristan in anticipation of the offensive, with about 16,000 of them coming out in the last few days, the army said.
But the exodus is not expected to bring a humanitarian crisis similar to one this year when about 2 million people fled from an offensive in the Swat valley, northwest of Islamabad.
South Waziristan's population is about 500,000, according to the latest figures, and many residents have houses on government-controlled lowland to the east. People traditionally head up to Waziristan in the summer with their flocks and back to the lowland in the autumn.
Most of the displaced who do not have houses on the lowland are staying with friends and relatives, officials said.
Intelligence officials said the fighting was concentrated around the town of Shakai, where soldiers are pushing in from the southwest.
"The militants are putting up stiff resistance at the Shakai front," said an intelligence official in the region.
There was less fighting on another front in the Spinkai Raghzai area, where soldiers are moving in from the southeast, said the official, who declined to be identified.
While investors in Pakistani stocks have become used to militant attacks, the violence over the past two weeks has made them nervous. Stocks fell early on Monday.
"There is anxiety among them due to the security situation and that's why most local institutions and investors are not very aggressive," said Sajid Bhanji, a dealer at Arif Habib Ltd.
The Karachi Stock Exchange's benchmark 100-share index was 1.68 percent, or 98.57 points, lower at 9,672.62 points at 6:57 a.m. British time.
(Additional reporting by Zeeshan Haider; Editing by Jerry Norton)