Pakistani security forces make advances in South Waziristan

October 17th, 2009 WANA - Pakistani fighter jets have pounded the militants' hideouts in South Waziristan, killing at least 11 insurgents, as the security forces began a fresh offensive against the Taliban in the area, the Online news agency reported. Sources said the latest offensive that began Saturday has left two soldiers dead and five injured.

October 17th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - A senior Pakistani official said Saturday government forces had started a much-awaited ground offensive against Taliban and Al Qaeda insurgents in the lawless South Waziristan tribal region along the Afghan border. "Our ground troops have started action in various areas of South Waziristan.

October 11th, 2009 NEW YORK - A former top Pakistani police official has said Saturday's ghastly terror strike on the Army General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi was a result of the failure of the security forces to counter the extremists in South Waziristan effectively. Arbab Hidayatullah, an expert of national security, said the GHQ attack had occurred because the Pakistan military had given a free hand to the extremists.

October 2nd, 2009 PESHAWAR - Pakistani security officials have claimed that Uzbek Al Qaeda leader Tahir Yuldashev was killed by a US missile in August in Pakistan's South Waziristan region. Yuldashev, leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, had been operating from South Waziristan for some years.

September 22nd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has reportedly killed 45 security personnel in Waziristan, while 34 extremists have been killed across the region in the last 24 hours. According to a television report, helicopter gunships pounded military hideouts in South Waziristan killing at least 26 Taliban fighters besides injuring many others.

September 22nd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - At least 34 suspected militants have died in clashes in Pakistan's South and North Waziristan while the Taliban claim to have killed 45 security personnel, media reports said Tuesday. Gunship helicopters pounded militant hideouts in South Waziristan, killing at least 26 suspected militants while injuring several others, Dawn reported Tuesday.

August 18th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistani Army has said that it would require months to prepare for a ground offensive against the Taliban in their South Waziristan stronghold on the Afghan border. Lieutenant-General Nadeem Ahmed, Commander of the 1 Strike Corps in Mangla in Pakistan Kashmir, said this while reacting to comments made by visiting US envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke.

August 9th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - In a bid to ensure that Islamabad doesn't call off or delay its military offensive in Waziristan following the reported death of Baitullah Mehsud, the United States has told Pakistan to continue fighting the war on terror in the tribal areas. "The Obama administration is pleased over the death of Baitullah Mehsud, but it is against any decision by Islamabad to delay the South Waziristan offensive for long or call it off," The Nation quoted a diplomatic source, as saying.

August 5th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The wife of Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a suspected US drone strike in northwestern Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal agency, TV channels reported Wednesday. TV reports said the drone hit the house of Akramuddin, father-in-law of Mehsud, killing four people and injuring two others.

July 4th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The military operation in northwest Pakistan is not against any tribal group but targets the Taliban led by Baitullah Mehsud, Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said, stressing that the government has not signed any peace deal with the militants. He added that there is a need for cooperation between the federal and provincial governments to eliminate the menace of terrorism completely.

June 30th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The Taliban has declared an end to the peace deal it signed with the Pakistani government last year due to the ongoing military operation in northwest Pakistan. The Taliban made the announcement Monday after a meeting of the group's local shura (council) in North Waziristan, the website of the Dawn newspaper said.

June 25th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A US drone strike on a funeral in Pakistan's tribal areas narrowly missed Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, an American media report said Thursday. Mehsud was not at the spot at the time of Tuesday's attack, but had gone to pay his respects to a Taliban commander killed in another American drone strike earlier the same day, a Pakistani security official told the New York Times.

June 23rd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - A militant leader, who openly challenged Pakistani Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud, was killed in north-western Pakistan Tuesday, media reports said. Qari Zainuddin was fatally shot in his house in the town of Dera Ismail Khan, located near the lawless South Waziristan tribal district, the main stronghold of Mehsud.

June 7th, 2009 LAHORE - Pakistan's political and defence analyst Ejaz Haider has predicted that the Pakistan Army would soon launch a military operation in Waziristan, the "centre of gravity" for the Taliban. The Daily Times quoted Haider as saying that the military operation is inevitable, as it is essential to neutralize the Taliban's power in the tribal agencies of North and South Waziristan.

April 29th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - A suspected US missile strike in Pakistan's troubled South Waziristan tribal district near Afghan border Wednesday killed at least six people, officials said. Two missiles, believed to have been fired from a US-operated Predator drone, hit a house in Kani Goram area of the district, a known safe-haven of Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters.