Taliban fight back against Pakistan forces

• Last Updated: October 18. 2009 2:06PM UAE / October 18. 2009 10:06AM GMT

Militants fired on helicopter gunships and attacked Pakistani troops advancing into their main sanctuary near the Afghan border, residents and those fleeing reported today, as the army pressed ahead with its most critical offensive yet against al Qa'eda and the Taliban.

The assault in South Waziristan follows repeated requests from the US to take on the Islamic militants behind soaring terrorist attacks in the nuclear-armed nation and al Qa'eda and other extremists believed to be plotting strikes in the West.

The push involves mostly poorly equipped soldiers trained to fight conventional wars, not counterinsurgency operations, who have failed in three other campaigns in the mountainous region since 2001. Five soldiers and 11 militants have been reported killed since the offensive began on Saturday.

Reporters are blocked from visiting the region, but early accounts today suggested that the 30,000 troops were in for much tougher fight than in the Swat Valley, another north-eastern region that the army successfully wrestled away from insurgents earlier this year.

“Militants are offering very tough resistance to any movement of troops,” Ehsan Mahsud told AP in the town of Mir Ali, close to the battle zone. He and a friend arrived there early this morning after travelling through the night. He said the army appeared to be mostly relying on air strikes and artillery against well-dug in militants who were occupying high ground.

He said the insurgents were firing heavy machine guns at helicopter gunships, forcing the air force to use higher-flying jets. The army is up against about 10,000 local militants and about 1,500 foreign fighters, most of them from Central Asia. They control roughly 3,310 square kilometres of territory, or about half of South Waziristan, in areas loyal to former militant chief Baitullah Mehsud, who was killed in a US missile strike in August.

* AP