*Sources: Int'l Media / AP
(NSI News Source) BANNU, Pakistan - June 12, 2009: The Pakistan army attacked an area bordering a militant stronghold near the Waziristan tribal region on Thursday, killing scores of Taliban fighters with helicopter gunships and artillery shelling, officials said. 
Pakistani army troops patrol on a road during curfew in Bannu, Pakistan on Wednesday, June 10, 2009. Authorities have imposed an indefinite curfew in Bannu, a town near South and North Waziristan regions, two major strongholds for al-Qaida and the Taliban, amidst the probability of a security operation.
Meanwhile, dozens of militants attacked three army posts in South Waziristan, triggering shootouts that left 20 insurgents and three soldiers dead early Thursday, intelligence officials told The Associated Press.
Army officials say Taliban fighters are attacking soldiers in South Waziristan to distract the military from its operation in Swat, where they say they have killed more than 1,300 militants since late April.
The coordinated attacks early Thursday targeted bases in Jandola, Chakmalai and Splitoi towns in South Waziristan, said two intelligence officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media. The militants used rockets and guns, prompting troops to return fire, the officials said.
‘Late last night about 400 terrorists attacked Siplatoi and Jandola Fort...three soldiers embraced shahadat (martyrdom) and five were injured, while 22 terrorists were killed and a large number injured,’ the army said.
In Swat’s Taliban stronghold of Peochar, 10 suspected militants were killed in the past day, the army statement said, while operations also continued in Dir and Buner districts.
Also on Thursday, Lashkars (militia) continued an exchange of fire with Taliban in two Upper Dir villages, said the officials.
‘This is a war, but the people of this country will not bow to the cowardly acts of terrorists. People are now seeing the real face of those who have been exploiting them in the name of Islam,’ North West Frontier Province senior minister Bashir Ahmad Bilour Bilour told reporters on Wednesday.
Already in the final stages of an operation to clear militants from the Swat valley, the military said it went on the offensive in Bannu after up to 800 militants infiltrated from Waziristan.
There has been speculation that once that was over the focus would switch to Waziristan, long regarded as a hub of Taliban and al-Qaeda activity. 
The military said it went on the offensive in Bannu after up to 800 militants infiltrated from Waziristan. —AP/File photo
According to local military officials and a senior civilian official in Bannu well over 100 militants have been killed since the army swung into action on Wednesday.
‘The operation is going on very well. Helicopter gunships, artillery, everything is being used,’ Kamran Zeb, the top administrator in Bannu, told Reuters.
‘Yesterday, around 100 militants were killed in the operation,’ Zeb said, adding that there had been more killed on Thursday.
Security forces also used artillery and warplanes to obliterate a militant compound in the tribal region of Orakzai, killing at least five people, but probably more, according to the the region’s mayor.
‘It’s been heavy bombing and there must be many more casualties, both militants and civilians. We’re trying to collect the numbers,’ mayor Gul Khitab said.
A pro-Taliban cleric, Maulvi Jameel, said several militants’ positions and hideouts had been struck during the raid. He didn’t have information about casualties.
In South Waziristan, militants fired rockets at a paramilitary base in Jandola killing two soldiers. The military have bottled up the main forces of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud in rugged mountains close to Jandola.
A soldier was killed in another attack by the militants in the same region, while Taliban officials said four of their fighters were killed in the fighting in South Waziristan.
Pakistani army troops patrol on a road during curfew in Bannu, Pakistan on Wednesday, June 10, 2009. Authorities have imposed an indefinite curfew in Bannu, a town near South and North Waziristan regions, two major strongholds for al-Qaida and the Taliban, amidst the probability of a security operation.
Meanwhile, dozens of militants attacked three army posts in South Waziristan, triggering shootouts that left 20 insurgents and three soldiers dead early Thursday, intelligence officials told The Associated Press.
Army officials say Taliban fighters are attacking soldiers in South Waziristan to distract the military from its operation in Swat, where they say they have killed more than 1,300 militants since late April.
The coordinated attacks early Thursday targeted bases in Jandola, Chakmalai and Splitoi towns in South Waziristan, said two intelligence officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media. The militants used rockets and guns, prompting troops to return fire, the officials said.
‘Late last night about 400 terrorists attacked Siplatoi and Jandola Fort...three soldiers embraced shahadat (martyrdom) and five were injured, while 22 terrorists were killed and a large number injured,’ the army said.
In Swat’s Taliban stronghold of Peochar, 10 suspected militants were killed in the past day, the army statement said, while operations also continued in Dir and Buner districts.
Also on Thursday, Lashkars (militia) continued an exchange of fire with Taliban in two Upper Dir villages, said the officials.
‘This is a war, but the people of this country will not bow to the cowardly acts of terrorists. People are now seeing the real face of those who have been exploiting them in the name of Islam,’ North West Frontier Province senior minister Bashir Ahmad Bilour Bilour told reporters on Wednesday.
Already in the final stages of an operation to clear militants from the Swat valley, the military said it went on the offensive in Bannu after up to 800 militants infiltrated from Waziristan.
There has been speculation that once that was over the focus would switch to Waziristan, long regarded as a hub of Taliban and al-Qaeda activity. The military said it went on the offensive in Bannu after up to 800 militants infiltrated from Waziristan. —AP/File photo
According to local military officials and a senior civilian official in Bannu well over 100 militants have been killed since the army swung into action on Wednesday.
‘The operation is going on very well. Helicopter gunships, artillery, everything is being used,’ Kamran Zeb, the top administrator in Bannu, told Reuters.
‘Yesterday, around 100 militants were killed in the operation,’ Zeb said, adding that there had been more killed on Thursday.
Security forces also used artillery and warplanes to obliterate a militant compound in the tribal region of Orakzai, killing at least five people, but probably more, according to the the region’s mayor.
‘It’s been heavy bombing and there must be many more casualties, both militants and civilians. We’re trying to collect the numbers,’ mayor Gul Khitab said.
A pro-Taliban cleric, Maulvi Jameel, said several militants’ positions and hideouts had been struck during the raid. He didn’t have information about casualties.
In South Waziristan, militants fired rockets at a paramilitary base in Jandola killing two soldiers. The military have bottled up the main forces of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud in rugged mountains close to Jandola.
A soldier was killed in another attack by the militants in the same region, while Taliban officials said four of their fighters were killed in the fighting in South Waziristan.
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