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Pakistani soldiers patrol near a check post along the road leading from South Waziristan to Dera Ismail Khan - Source: Reuters -
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Taliban militants attacked Pakistani forces and recaptured a
strategic town while two suicide bomb blasts at an Islamic
university in the capital killed four people and wounded at least
20, officials said.
The army on Monday captured the small town of Kotkai, the
birthplace of Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud on the
approach to an insurgent base in South Waziristan, but militants
struck back to retake it, security officials said.
The fighting for control of lawless South Waziristan is a major
test of the government's ability to tackle an increasingly brazen
insurgency that has seen a string of attacks in various parts
of the country.
Two suspected suicide bomb blasts at the International Islamic
University in Islamabad killed four people and wounded at least 20,
officials said.
The sprawling university teaches over 12,000 students, nearly half
of them female, focusing on education that incorporates Islam in
modern times.
Witnesses and police said one suicide bomber detonated a device in
a canteen, while the other went off elsewhere on the campus.
Remote and rugged South Waziristan, with its rocky mountains and
patchy forests cut through by dry creeks and ravines, is a global
hub for militants, and the offensive is being closely followed by
the United States and other powers embroiled in Afghanistan.
"Seven soldiers, including a major, and several Taliban were killed
in the fighting," an intelligence official in the region
said.
Another intelligence official said jets bombed Taliban positions in
and around Kotkai after the militant counter-attack.
The town, also the home town of Qari Hussain Mehsud, a senior
Taliban commander known as the mentor of suicide bombers, is a
gateway to a militant stronghold at Sararogha.
Military spokesmen were not available for comment.
It is not possible to verify independently reports from the battle
zone as foreign reporters are not allowed in and it is dangerous
for Pakistani reporters to visit.
Many of the Pakistani media based in South Waziristan have
left.
The army says 78 militants and nine soldiers have been killed since
the long-awaited offensive began on Saturday.
There was no independent verification of the tolls.
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said he was encouraged by the
offensive but it was too early to gauge the impact.
General David Petraeus, commander of US forces in the region,
held talks with Pakistani military and government officials on
Monday.
Military officials and analysts said forces had faced less
resistance than expected, but heavy fighting was likely when
soldiers approach militant sanctuaries in the forest-covered
mountains.
About 28,000 soldiers are battling an estimated 10,000 hard-core
Taliban, including about 1,000 tough Uzbek fighters and some Arab
al Qaeda members.
The militants have had years to prepare their bunkers, but the army
says it has surrounded the entire militant zone and was attacking
from the north, southwest and southeast.
More than 100,000 civilians have fled South Waziristan in
anticipation of the offensive, with about 26,000 of them leaving
since October 13, the United Nations said.
Up to 200,000 people could flee, the army says.
The army has launched brief offensives in South Waziristan before,
the first in 2004 when it suffered heavy casualties before striking
a peace pact.
This time, however, analysts say the army, the government and the
general public all agree the time has come to deal with the
Pakistani Taliban.
"I'm obviously encouraged by the Pakistani operations. I think that
the terrorist attacks that have been launched inside Pakistan in
recent days made clear the need to begin the deal with this
problem," Gates said aboard a US military aircraft.
"And so we obviously are very supporting of what the Pakistanis are
doing. But it's very early yet."
Pakistani stocks fell 4.34% on Monday on worries about security,
but rebounded on Tuesday, with the index closing up 1.68% at
9,569.06 points.
