Pakistan fights 'mother of all battles' with the Taliban - TelegraphPakistan fights 'mother of all battles' with the Taliban
The tanks, armoured columns and helicopter gunships of Pakistan's army stormed into South Waziristan, the global headquarters of al-Qaeda and its Taliban allies.
By Saeed Shah in Lahore, Emal Khan in Peshawar and Dean Nelson
Published: 5:19PM BST 17 Oct 2009
Pakistan Army troops head for Bannu, a town on the edge of Waziristan Photo: AP
Within hours of leaving their camps early on Saturday morning to fight what is being hailed as the decisive battle in the war against terror, 12 soldiers had been killed in the first ferocious gunfights.
Pakistan's generals have called the offensive the "mother of all battles" for the survival of a country under siege.
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There were reports of Taliban compounds coming under aerial bombardment from Pakistan gunships as troops moved out in three columns from Razmak to the north, Jandola to the east and Shakai in the west, and advanced on notorious Taliban target towns like Makeen and Ladha.
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Saturday, October 17, 2009
Pakistan fights 'mother of all battles' with the Taliban - Telegraph
Pakistan fights 'mother of all battles' with the Taliban - Telegraph
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