Taliban militants attacked Pakistani forces and recaptured a strategic town today while two suicide bombs at an Islamic university in the capital killed six people and wounded at least 20.
The army yesterday 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 today 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 attacks at the International Islamic University in Islamabad killed six people and wounded at least 20, officials said.
The sprawling university teaches over 12,000 students, nearly half of them women, 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.
Kotkai, 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.
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.
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 yesterday.
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 Taliban militants, including about 1,000 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 13th, the United Nations said. Up to 200,000 people could flee, the army says.
Reuters