South Waziristan

Residents of South Waziristan said the early morning missile strike hit the home of a Taliban commander outside the main town, Wana.

On Saturday, a top al-Qaeda commander is thought to have been killed by an American missile in South Waziristan.

He was one of nine militants killed on Friday night in South Waziristan.

The attack took place in Wana, the administrative center of the South Waziristan tribal region.

More than 500 civilians have been killed in terrorist attacks across Pakistan since the launch of the South Waziristan offensive in October.

Pakistani troops have fired shots into the air to stop US troops crossing into the South Waziristan region of Pakistan, local officials say.

The army reckons that, of over 200 suicide blasts in Pakistan in the past two years, 80% were launched from South Waziristan.

The most likely first target is the head of the Pakistani Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud, whose stronghold is in South Waziristan.

Up to 100000 civilians have fled Pakistan's South Waziristan because of a military offensive against Taliban militants, Reuters reported.

Qureshi said full confirmation was not possible until authorities reached South Waziristan, the lawless area where the missiles struck.

Major General Abbas insisted the officials did not authorize cross-border ground assaults such as Wednesday's raid in South Waziristan.

The bloodshed was linked to a planned offensive by the army against Islamist militants in the tribal area of South Waziristan.

The army is poised to extend its campaign into South Waziristan, the main base of Baitullah Mehsud, the chieftain of the Pakistani Taliban.

Mehsud, the leader of the Taliban Movement of Pakistan, was killed by a missile-firing U. S. drone aircraft in South Waziristan in August.

Pakistani security forces have been attacking insurgent bases in the South Waziristan tribal area since October.

Taliban sanctuaries in South Waziristan and North Waziristan directly threaten Paktika, Khost and Paktia provinces of Afghanistan.

The killing of the anti-Taliban cleric provoked deadly air strikes Saturday by Pakistani military in the South Waziristan region.

Fierce fighting is continuing as Taliban militants stand firm against the security forces in South Waziristan.

Pakistan's military has said it has seized most of the Taliban's territory in South Waziristan.

What the violence in South Waziristan really highlights is the failure of Pakistani strategy in the FATA as a whole.

On Saturday, an alleged U. S drone attack killed at least 25 people in the South Waziristan tribal region.

Last week, the troops were sent into South Waziristan, against Baitullah Mehsud, a Taliban leader also suspected of ties to al-Qaida.

Pakistan's army launched a long-awaited offensive against Taliban strongholds in the tribal area of South Waziristan, to fierce resistance.

Pakistani troops began a campaign against the Taliban in the tribal areas of South Waziristan.

But the size of the exodus from South Waziristan suggests fighting is intense.

The information could not be confirmed as South Waziristan is effectively cut off from the outside world.

Both he and his main rival, Waliur Rehman, come from Baitullah's Mehsud tribe of South Waziristan, which dominates the ttp.

The army launched an offensive in South Waziristan last October to root out militants blamed for bombings.

But he used the lull to expand his army of Taliban and suicide-bombers in the tribal area of South Waziristan.

This has emboldened the army to launch a series of crushing offensives against it, most recently in South Waziristan.

There were reports of missile attacks launched in Afghanistan or by unmanned aircraft in South Waziristan in the past.

In the second strike, a suspected drone fired a missile into a house near Wana, the main town in South Waziristan, killing five people.

TIP leaders were killed in South Waziristan and North Waziristan, in September 2003 and February 2010, respectively.

Some 70 drone strikes have killed more than 200 people in North and South Waziristan since the start of 2010, officials say.

Success in South Waziristan, which Pakistan only notionally administers, would look much more modest than that in Malakand.