Word: mehsuds
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...spate of attacks by Taliban militants that killed more than 100 people in the first three weeks of October, Pakistan's government launched a new offensive in insurgent-plagued South Waziristan that it dubbed Operation Path of Riddance. Pakistan's army chief requested the support of the area's Mehsud tribe, whose members fill many of the Taliban's top posts. Thousands of civilians fled the region, where 30,000 troops were fighting...
Since the late 19th century, when Mullah Powindah - the first religiously inspired fighter from the Mehsud tribe - harried British troops, South Waziristan has troubled modern armies. Pakistan's ongoing wave of vicious suicide attacks has brutally demonstrated the need to eliminate the militants who are based here. But the fighting is only going to get tougher. And when the army does manage to clear the area, as it expects to do within three months, holding on to the territory may prove even harder...
...choking off the main roads, troop commanders on the ground are confident that they are bleeding the militants dry and protecting against their flight to other areas. But a visit to Kotkai - the hometown of Taliban leaders Hakimullah Mehsud and Waliur Rehman, which was cleared by the army last week - was not possible due to the continuing threat of rocket fire from militants nearby. There is no clear idea of either of the Taliban commanders' whereabouts, though there have been unconfirmed reports of Mehsud hiding atop Preghal in Badr Valley, South Waziristan's highest peak. Some observers speculate that...
...attempt to ease its task in South Waziristan, the army has sought to isolate what remains of Baitullah Mehsud's network by striking arrangements with such unsavory groups. Most notably, it has revived non-aggression pacts with two powerful militant leaders from the rival Wazir tribe. As the army advances toward the Baitullah Mehsud network's strongholds from three different directions, Mullah Nazir in western South Waziristan and Hafiz Gul Bahadur in North Waziristan are facilitating its movements. Troublingly for U.S. troops in Afghanistan, both groups still mount cross-border attacks there. To the east, Turkistan Bhittani, a militant leader...
...pervades the refugee registration centers, where few are willing to openly denounce the Taliban's brutality. Instead, there are fierce criticisms of the army's earlier operations, the ruinous peace deals that it left behind and its role in the creation of these factions. "I don't like Baitullah Mehsud at all. He caused all this to happen in the first place," says Dilawar Khan, 50, a teacher from Kotkai village. "But who made these Taliban? It was the army...