Word: swats
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Anticipation for the Waziristan offensive began this summer, after the conclusion of active fighting in Swat, another militant stronghold in Pakistan. Provincial officials announced that the government had decided to move next against the then chief of TTP, Baitullah Mehsud, in his South Waziristan stronghold. But military operations in Swat continued and fighting spread to other districts, which tied up army operations for several more months. (See pictures of art from Pakistan and Afghanistan...
Just weeks after trumpeting the results of a military offensive in the Swat Valley, the Pakistan army suddenly finds itself under attack on multiple fronts. A day after an élite unit of army commandos secured the release of 39 hostages, bringing to an end a 22-hour siege of its military headquarters that left 25 people dead over the weekend, the Taliban struck again. In the fourth major attack in eight days, a suicide bomber killed 41 people in a marketplace near Swat on Monday, underscoring the militants' enduring ability to strike across the country...
...ground. The Punjabi groups have also appeared in the Bajaur tribal area where, after claiming victory months ago, the Pakistan air force dispatched fighter jets on Monday to strike against a creeping return of the Taliban. Two of the splinter groups were also recently involved in fighting in the Swat Valley; after being scattered in that offensive, says Rana, they are now regrouping in southern Punjab. (Read "In Pakistan's Swat Valley, Testing Life After the Taliban...
Pakistanis will have to be braced for the fallout. At the moment, after a largely successful sweep of the Taliban who dominated the Swat Valley in the northwest, army morale is cresting. Revulsion against the militants' brutality has also sent antimilitant sentiment to an all-time high. But it remains to be seen whether that resolve will hold up in the face of expected troop losses and further bombing attacks across the northwest and in major cities; security is being beefed up outside government buildings, Western targets and civilian areas. There is also fear that moving against the militants...
...pictures of a Pakistani forces confronting the Taliban in the Swat Valley...