Waziristan

In September, the U. S. is believed to have launched at least 21 such attacks, an unprecedented number and nearly all in North Waziristan.

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

A local senior security official said the attack of the barracks located in the North Waziristan tribal region's main town Miranshah.

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

Mr Rehman will run the all-important Waziristan region. So Hakimullah Mehsud will depend on him for men, cash and other resources.

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.

He reportedly said he received bomb-making training inthe Waziristan area of Pakistan.

While western countries want to see the Pakistani army take the fight to Waziristan, Pakistani forces have been repeatedly defeated there.

According to the criminal complaint, Mr. Shahzad said he recently received bomb-making training in the Waziristan, Pakistan.

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

Waziristan, in Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal area, has never been held by any foreign power.

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.

He reportedly said he received bomb-making training in the Waziristan area of Pakistan.

Yet officially it objects to America's missile strikes and, in Waziristan itself, it is observing an on-off ceasefire agreement with him.

Two U. S. missile strikes Tuesday in Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal region of North Waziristan killed at least 24 suspected militants.

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

At least one security official in North Waziristan died in heavy firing from Afghanistan.

While Pakistani forces claim to have "won" in Bajaur, they show no appetite for taking the war to 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.

Since Obama became President, the U. S. drones in Pakistan's Waziristan area attacks with increasing frequency.

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.

Deep purple and green hues enhance the Waziristan Hills, a mountainous region of northwest Pakistan near the Afghanistan border.

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

Only two men, thought to be from Waziristan, were seen coming and going, often in a Suzuki car.

The most wanted man in the world is believed to be hiding in Pakistan, perhaps in the Waziristan region.

Rescue efforts will divert the army from its campaign against the Pakistani Taliban in Waziristan.

The Haqqani network leadership is based in North Waziristan, in the tribal areas of Pakistan. It has a presence in eastern Afghanistan.

Mr Mehsud's followers retaliated by seizing a small town, and cutting off the road to Waziristan.

And if that happens, it could erode public support of the military's efforts to go after top militant leaders in Waziristan.

The underlying problem of insurgents using North Waziristan as a haven from which to launch attacks and assist jihadist terrorists remains.

The Haqqani network is based in Pakistan's North Waziristan province, a tribal area along the border with Afghanistan.

One account describes a terse meeting between American and Pakistani soldiers in a dry riverbed on the border of Waziristan.

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

Yet it seems more likely that the blurring of militant groups will persuade the army that an offensive in North Waziristan is unavoidable.

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

A formidable landscape, the Waziristan Hills are a hodgepodge of steep, rugged hills split by narrow passes and deep gorges.

Authorities say the missiles hit a home Saturday near the Datta Khel village in the North Waziristan tribal district.

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

The best-known target was Baitullah Mehsud, leader of the Pakistani Taliban, who was blown up at his home in Waziristan last August.

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.

The announcement by a spokesman for Taliban leader Hafiz Gul Bahadar could signal the end of months of relative peace in North Waziristan.

North Waziristan is dominated by the Wazir tribe that also inhabits the adjoining Afghan provinces of Paktika and Khost.

Despite Pakistan's offensive, Waziristan remains firmly in militant hands, with the army reluctant to move in on the ground.

American and British intelligence think Bin Laden is in North Waziristan, in part because he has particularly good friends there.

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.

On Monday, a suspected U. S. drone attack killed four militants allegedly with ties to Al Qaeda and Pakistan's Taliban in North Waziristan.

The reports say the missile strikes occurred in Miran Shah, the main town of North 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.

A suspected U. S missile strike in January in the adjoining North Waziristan region killed a senior al-Qaida leader, Abu Laith al-Libi .

Pakistan says it cannot launch a ground offensive in North Waziristan because its armed forces are already stretched.

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.

Mr. Mortenson has had setbacks, including being kidnapped for eight days in Pakistan's wild Waziristan region.

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.

Yet, according to the authorities, he recently received bomb-making training in Waziristan, probably from the Pakistani Taliban.

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

The unnamed official said that Atiyah Abd al-Rahman was killed five days ago in the Pakistani tribal region of Waziristan.

The veteran Afghan militant Jalaluddin Haqqani is based in North Waziristan.

The wilds of Waziristan, the tribal belt along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, make an unlikely showcase for the future of warfare.

PAKISTAN'S army may be poised to continue its battle against Taliban forces, this time in Waziristan.

Paktika province adjoins North Waziristan, a hub of militant activity.

On June 2nd troops rescued 79 students and staff from a college in North Waziristan, after they were abducted by tribal militants.

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

North Waziristan is also the home base of another veteran Afghan militant, Jalaluddin Haqqani.

Last weekend's siege of the army headquarters was plotted in Waziristan, according to the military.

This is likely to increase pressure on Pakistan's army, especially from America, to continue its assault into North Waziristan.

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

Mr Musharraf sent the army into Swat and bombed Mr Mehsud's hideouts in Waziristan.

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

They also link up with groups based in the Waziristan region of Pakistan.

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.

Another problem is that the North Waziristan territory from which the Haqqanis operate is mountainous and remote.

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

In North Waziristan, for example, a 2006 agreement led to a tripling of cross-border infiltration.

Last month a New York Times reporter, David Rohde, escaped from a house in North Waziristan after eight months in captivity.

He and other chieftains have deployed a tribal army of 4, 000 bearded Marwats along their 110km (70-mile) Waziristan frontier.

Cause of death : Killed in North Waziristan drone strike, Nov. 2005

Cause of death : Killed in North Waziristan drone strike, Jan. 2008