Tahir Ali's exclusive account for rediff.com from South Waziristan where the Pakistan Army and the Tehrik Taliban Pakistan are engaged in a 'decisive war'.
Pakistan, probably for the first time, has admitted that the failed Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad had links in South Waziristan, the strong hold of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.
Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi announced that the suicide bomber involved in the deadly Islamabad bombing was an Afghan national. The announcement follows a suicide bombing in Islamabad and another attack in South Waziristan.
At least 19 soldiers and 45 militants have been killed in clashes in Pakistan's restive northwest, with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowing to respond with full force against the terrorists. The Pakistan army reports clashes in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Sharif alleges terrorist leaders operate from Afghan soil and calls for repatriation of illegal Afghan residents.
No group or individual claimed responsibility for the attack, but such strikes are usually carried out by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistani (TTP).
The United States has said that it is pleased with the success of Pakistan army against the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Southern Waziristan and reiterated that it would continue to support such efforts to combat terrorism.
Major Syed Moiz Abbas Shah, 37, was killed on Tuesday in a clash with the Taliban militants in the Sararogha area of South Waziristan near the Afghan border, according to a statement by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the army.
Backed by helicopter gunships, the army launched a major offensive after militants fired rockets at the military positions last night in Wana, the headquarters of South Waziristan, say reports.
After repeatedly expressing suspicion over Indian role in the South Waziristan insurgency, Pakistan has finally admitted that it has found "no concrete evidence" to establish the Indian angle.
Hours after a suspected Taliban suicide bomber detonated his vehicle in Peshawar killing 49 people, Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Friday said the government had no option but to strike back on the militant stronghold of south Wazirstan."We have no other option but to carry out an operation in south Wazirstan," the interior minister told a private television channel after the attack.
'There are no links between India and the Taliban. Even if India supports militancy, it is not foolish enough to leave evidence.'
The terrorists who attacked a key Pakistan Air Force base had been trained in the Waziristan tribal region where plans for the raid could be traced, Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said.
Notwithstanding United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's clarifications that there was not sufficient evidence to prove India's involvement in terror activities inside Pakistan's territory, Pakistan Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira has said that Islamabad has found 'concrete evidence' regarding New Delhi's role in fanning insurgency in South Waziristan, where the military is engaged in an intense battle with the Taliban.
The advance on Mehsud tribal positions began on Saturday morning after a go-ahead was given by the government for starting an offensive on Taliban stronghold at a meeting attended by the top political and military leadership.
As militants escape the north Waziristan hideout following Islamabad's decision to take on the Taliban in the region, they are becoming easy pray for US drones, reports Tahir Ali.
"We continually review our strategy with respect to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. So it is something that is occupying quite a bit of our time at the State Department, DOD, as well as the White House," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
The Pakistan Army on Tuesday claimed that its forces waging a tough ground offensive in the lawless South Waziristan tribal region have captured most of the towns and populated centres from the Taliban.
Pakistani forces fought pitched battles with Taliban fighters in their bid to wrest their hub of Sararogha in South Waziristan killing 34 militants to raise the terrorist death toll to 227, but lost 11 soldiers as insurgents opened new fronts in the lawless region.
Pakistan's military operation against the Taliban in South Waziristan will be taken to its logical conclusion despite a wave of attacks by the militants as 'failure is not an option,' Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Friday.
In continuing wave of violence in northwest Pakistan, a suicide car bomber blew up his vehicle, packed with 50 kg of explosives, when he was flagged at a checkpoint at Pishtakhara Chowk, the main entry point to Peshawar from the troubled Khyber tribal region.
Pakistani fighter jets pounded Taliban strongholds in the volatile South Waziristan tribal region on Friday as the death toll from the series of US drone attacks in the region rose to 13. The warplanes hit targets in preparation for a full scale military operation which Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar said would take off as soon as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Baitullah Mehsud was spotted.
Over 400 militants attacked the Sararogha fort at midnight and later captured it, military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told reporters. He said 40 to 50 militants and seven Frontier Corps personnel were killed in the fighting.
Twenty suspected militants were killed in two United States drone strikes in the restive South Waziristan tribal region of northwest Pakistan on Monday.
A senior Afghan interim government official on Monday confirmed that strikes in the Afghanistan provinces of Paktika and Khost along the Pakistan border have taken place.
The Pakistan government and Taliban militants in the restive South Waziristan tribal region are expected to swap prisoners as part of efforts for a formal peace agreement. A formal agreement could be reached in three to four days. The swapping of prisoners is expected to take place at Tiarza in South Waziristan, sources said. An official said all of them were members of the Mehsud tribe.
Taliban commander Mullah Nazir has been killed in a United States drone strike in South Waziristan agency.
A US drone strike on Thursday killed at least 7 militants including a commander of the dreaded Haqqani network in northwestern Pakistan's restive tribal region bordering Afghanistan, officials said.
B Raman on the situation in Pakistan after the death of Baitullah.
The outlawed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has ruled out any negotiations with the government and claimed that it has taken control of most areas of the South Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan.
At least two Pakistani soldiers were killed and four others injured on Wednesday during an attempt by a pair of suicide bombers to blow up an army camp in the restive South Waziristan tribal region. Sentries at the Zarai Noor army camp in Wana, the main town of South Waziristan, spotted the two suicide attackers in their vehicle when they were about 100 metres from the camp early on Wednesday morning, military sources said.
At least 10 militants and a security personnel were killed on Sunday in a fierce clash in the restive South Waziristan tribal region of Pakistan.
The drones targeted a compound in Sararogha sub-division of South Waziristan Agency, officials of the local political administration told the media.
While terming Imran Khan's rally to South Waziristan "a mere drama", the Taliban has warned Tehrik-e-Insaaf Pakistan not to go ahead with the rally or face music.
A United States drone crashed in the restive South Waziristan tribal region of Pakistan on Sunday, with the Taliban claiming that its militants had shot down the unmanned spy plane.
At least 15 militants, including two Taliban commanders, were killed when US drones struck twice in the restive South Waziristan tribal region of Pakistan on Tuesday.
At least 13 suspected militants were on Friday killed after a United States drone targeted a house and a vehicle in the restive South Waziristan tribal region of Pakistan, officials said.
At least five suspected militants were killed and several others injured when a US drone targeted a vehicle in the restive South Waziristan tribal region of Pakistan on Monday.
A key Pakistani Taliban commander involved in an assassination attempt on former military ruler Pervez Musharraf has been arrested in the troubled South Waziristan tribal region, sources said on Wednesday.
The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has urged the Mehsud tribesmen of South Waziristan to leave their homes, claiming that the Taliban is in a state of war with the government of Pakistan.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances