Bombing contiues in Waziristan

Reuters:

Pakistani aircraft attacked Taliban in the South Waziristan region on Sunday a day after the army said it had captured a strategic town on an approach to main militant base area.

The army assault in the ethnic Pashtun tribal region on the border with Afghanistan is seen as a test of the government's determination to tackle Islamists responsible for a string of attacks against government and other targets.

The campaign is being closely followed by the United States and other powers embroiled in Afghanistan's growing conflict who want Pakistan to eliminate militant sanctuaries in its lawless northwest.

The latest bombardment in the week-old offensive was against militant bases in the three villages of Sam, Badr and Ladha, government and security officials said.

"It was intense bombing and later helicopter gunships attacked," said an intelligence agency official who declined to be identified.

Several militant hideouts had been destroyed in the bombing, said a government official, adding he had no information about casualties.

...

These attacks are probably to shape the battle space for future attacks by ground forces. The army is taking advantage of its superior weapons to clear the enemy forces and make it more difficult for them to inflict casualties on the ground forces.

The Taliban have little answer for this on the ground although they continue to push their media exploitation attacks elsewhere with human bomb explosions around non combatants. This has been a singularly ineffective response by the Taliban and has further alienated the people of Pakistan.