DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan — Pakistani soldiers attacked militant bases in the main al-Qaeda and Taliban stronghold along the Afghan border Saturday as the nuclear-armed country launched its most critical offensive yet against insurgents threatening its stability.
Five soldiers and 11 militants were killed as the more than 30,000 troops deployed to the region met stiff resistance in parts of South Waziristan. The region is a possible hide-out of Osama bin Laden and a base for jihadists bent on overthrowing the U.S-backed government, attacking the West and scuttling the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan.
The U.S. has pushed Pakistan to mount the offensive, which follows three unsuccessful campaigns since 2001 in the mountainous, remote region by mostly poorly equipped soldiers trained to fight conventional wars, not counterinsurgency operations.
The assault, which has been planned for several months, comes after a surge in militant attacks killed more than 175 people across Pakistan during the past two weeks. The operation is expected to last about two months and is aimed at clearing the region, then holding it, officials said.
Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said the effort was focused on uprooting the Pakistani Taliban, an umbrella group of militants led by members of the Mehsud tribe blamed for most of the attacks that have battered the country over the past three years.
About 10,000 local militants and about 1,500 foreign fighters, most of them from Central Asia, control roughly 1,275 square miles of territory, or about half of South Waziristan.
Intelligence officials said the ground troops Saturday were advancing on two flanks and a northern front of a central part of South Waziristan controlled by the Mehsuds. The areas being surrounded include the insurgent bases of Ladha and Makeen, the officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to brief the media.
Even if the army retakes the area, the offensive by itself is unlikely to be a death blow to the country’s entrenched militants, who have formed networks across the country, including with groups once nurtured by the state as proxies against its arch enemy, India.
The militants could escape to other parts of Pakistan’s semiautonomous tribal belt or cities in its heartland. The areas being targeted by the operation don’t directly border Afghanistan, which could limit the impact on U.S., Afghan and NATO troops battling a resurgent Afghan Taliban.
