Taliban claim to killing 45 Pak security personnel in Waziristan

October 13th, 2009 PESHAWAR - Before launching a full-scale military operation in South Waziristan, the Pakistan Government has initiated back-channel negotiations with Taliban commanders in North Waziristan in order to isolate insurgents of the Baitullah group. As part of the initiative, a jirga comprising more than 20 tribal elders arrived in Peshawar for talks with civilian and military leadership, The Dawn reports.

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.

October 1st, 2009 KABUL - A man who was abducted by the Taliban in eastern Afghanistan has escaped from its captivity after killing six militants, an official said Thursday. The incident took place in Paktika province.

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 30th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - At least 15 security personnel were killed and several others injured in a suicide attack on a police station in Mingora on Sunday. The attack took place when a suicide attacker blew himself up on the training ground near the police station where the security personnel had gathered for a training session.

August 23rd, 2009 MIRAMSHAH - The Taliban has declared a unilateral ceasefire in North Waziristan during the fasting month of Ramazan. Taliban commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur's spokesmnan, Ahmadullah Ahmadi, called local journalists from an undisclosed location and said the outfit has decided to shun its operations for the next 40 days.The Taliban will not attack security forces during this period," Ahmadi said.

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.

July 23rd, 2009 RAWALPINDI - The Pakistan Army has killed at least 27 Taliban fighters in various districts of the Malakand division in the last 24 hours. According to an ISPR statement, fighter jets pounded Taliban hideouts in South Waziristan killing six close aides of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud.

July 11th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Up to 15 Taliban died and several were injured overnight in a US missile strike in Pakistan's tribal region and clashes with troops in the neighbouring south-western province of Balochistan, officials said Saturday. A US military drone fired two missiles late Friday on a Taliban communication centre in the South Waziristan tribal district, a stronghold of top militant commander Baitullah Mehsud.

July 1st, 2009 RAWALPINDI - The Taliban has slaughtered 18 of their own injured men in the Biha valley, the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) has claimed. According to a daily update of the ISPR, the Taliban killed the injured associates as they were unable to move while the Army continued to advance further in their stronghold.

June 29th, 2009 MIRANSHAH - At least 15 militants and a security personnel were killed in fighting in South Waziristan area of Pakistan Monday, the Online news agency reported. The fighting started when the militants fired a rocket at the camp of security forces in Razmik area, killing a security personnel and wounding five others.

June 26th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - At least six militants, including a Taliban commander, were killed in two separate clashes in northwest Pakistan, Geo TV said Friday. The report said the security forces bombed two Taliban hideouts Thursday in the Chapri Feroz Khel and Atman Khel areas, killing at least six militants including a local Taliban commander.

June 26th, 2009 RAWALPINDI - The Pakistan Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Kayani has said that the security forces would certainly be able to establish control over the region captured by the Taliban and other militants, as the army is "executing a campaign plan" to achieve its target without much collateral damage. Addressing security personnel in South Waziristan where the army has launched an extensive operation against the Tehreek-e-Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, General Kayani stressed that the insurgents would be eliminated, and the government's writ would be re-established in the region soon.

June 13th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistani warplanes bombed a stronghold of Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud in the South Waziristan tribal region Saturday morning, media reports said. Four fighter jets bombed parts of Makeen and other areas in South Waziristan, destroying several militant hideouts, considered as the stronghold of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leader Baitullah Mehsud, Dawn reported, citing witness and intelligence reports.

January 7th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Suspected Taliban militants Thursday assassinated a senior government official and his guard in Pakistan's volatile tribal region, officials and residents said. Aman Ullah, a local administration officer, was on his way to his office in Razmak, a town in troubled North Waziristan that borders Afghanistan, when assailants sprayed his vehicles with bullets.