News World news
Militants fired on helicopter gunships and attacked Pakistani troops advancing into their main sanctuary near the Afghan border as the army pressed ahead with its most critical offensive yet against al-Qaida and the Taliban.
The assault in South Waziristan comes following repeated requests from the U.S. to take on the jihadists behind soaring terrorist attacks in the nuclear-armed nation and al-Qaida and other extremists believed to be plotting strikes in the West.
The push involves mostly poorly equipped soldiers trained to fight conventional wars, not counterinsurgency operations, who have failed in three other campaigns in the mountainous region since 2001. Five soldiers and 11 militants have been reported killed since the offensive began Saturday.
Reporters are blocked from visiting the region, but early accounts Sunday suggested that the 30,000 troops were in for much tougher fight than in the Swat Valley, another northeastern region that the army successfully wrestled away from insurgents earlier this year.
The army is up against about 10,000 local militants and about 1,500 foreign fighters, most of them from Central Asia. They control roughly 3,310 square kilometres of territory, or about half of South Waziristan, in areas loyal to former militant chief Baitullah Mehsud, who was killed in a U.S. missile strike in August.
As many as 150,000 civilians - possibly more - have left in recent months after the army made clear it was planning an assault.
