Pakistan forces bomb Taliban in South Waziristan 150,000 flee their Homes

About 150,000 people have fled their homes in South Waziristan…. but aid officials do not expect the exodus to become a humanitarian crisis, as did a similar offensive in the Swat valley this year.

By Alamgir Bitani

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Oct 25 (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 the militants' main base area.

Separately, gunmen on a motorcycle shot dead the minister of education in the provincial government in Baluchistan, a gas-rich southwestern province where separatist rebels have been waging a low-level insurgency for decades.

A separatist group claimed responsibility.

The army assault in the ethnic Pashtun tribal region of South Waziristan on the Afghan border 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 United States and other powers embroiled in neighbouring Afghanistan's growing conflict 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. Military spokesman were not available for comment.

South Waziristan, a rugged land of rocky mountains and patchy forest, is a global hub of Islamist militancy. Foreign fighters including Uzbeks and Arab al Qaeda supporters are fighting alongside the Taliban.

Soldiers are advancing on the militants' main stronghold area from three directions.

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