Pakistan military bomb suspected Taliban sites

Pakistani jet fighters flattened at least three suspected Taliban training facilities in the volatile South Waziristan tribal region today, killing or wounding several insurgents, two senior intelligence officials said.

The Taliban also opened fire on troops elsewhere in the mountainous area, starting a gunbattle that lasted hours, said an intelligence official, without giving any further details.

The fight marked the first ground fighting since the military started softening up the area with artillery several days ago in preparation for an expected offensive.

Other ground troops were moving into position around strongholds of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, said Nematullah Khan, a local government official in South Waziristan, where an armed forces buildup has been under way for several days.

The highly anticipated operation in South Waziristan is seen as a potential turning point in the yearslong and sometimes half-hearted fight against militancy in Pakistan. It could also help curb Taliban attacks on Western forces in Afghanistan.

The military says it is preparing a major offensive against Mehsud, but that it has not yet started in earnest.

For days, helicopter gunships, bombs and artillery have pounded suspected hide-outs for Mehsud and his fighters, and convoys of trucks have carried tanks and other heavy machinery into the area. Residents for weeks have been fleeing in the other direction in anticipation of an operation.

"Troops have entered in Mehsud's areas," Mr Khan said.

Asked whether the jets, artillery and advancement of ground troops meant a full-scale operation had started, Khan said: "No, not exactly. These are attempts to soften targets before hitting them hard."

The bombing runs were launched in response to reports of dozens of militants in the Zor Sorvakai, Madijan and Katkai areas, which are considered to be Mehsud's strongholds, said the intelligence officials.

They said it was unclear how many insurgents were killed or wounded in the attacks.

The troop deployment in many areas of South Waziristan had been completed, and soldiers were moving toward strategic areas where large numbers of Taliban fighters were believed to be entrenched, they said.

One of the officials said the military was blocking all roads that the militants could use to flee.

The South Waziristan operation comes on the heels of a similar offensive in the Swat Valley, but fighting in the lawless tribal region will likely be the toughest yet for Pakistan's military, testing both its combat capability and the government's will to see it through.

The Swat offensive is winding down, commanders say, with more than 1,300 militants and 100 soldiers killed.

A humanitarian crisis remains, with more than 2 million people displaced by the fighting and more than 230,000 of them living in refugee camps. International agencies say the emergency could become much worse if there is a further exodus from Waziristan.

Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar was cited by Dawn newspaper today as saying that refugees would start returning to the Swat Valley tomorrow, but the military did not announce any new lifting of curfews imposed to keep people away from the fighting.