This is probably the largest single loss of life by Pakistan's military in over a year as 8 Pakistani soldiers manning a military outpost in South Waziristan were killed today when a large force of Taliban descended on that post from the mountains. In the subsequent counterattack by Pakistani forces, 12 of the Taliban were killed.
From the report at The Long War Journal:
The Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan has regrouped in the tribal agency of South Waziristan. Today, a heavily armed Taliban force estimated at 150 fighters attacked a military post in the town of Makeen and killed eight Pakistani troops. Twelve Taliban fighters were reported killed in the counterattack. From Reuters:
Around 150 militants armed with rockets attacked a security checkpost in Pakistan's Waziristan on Thursday, killing eight soldiers, intelligence officials said, as tensions rise in the border region. Twelve militants were killed in retaliatory firing by security forces.
The attack came on the heels of stepped-up missile strikes by U.S. drone aircraft in the tribal region along the Afghan border regarded as a hub of militants from around the world.
"The militants were carrying rockets and heavy weapons and attacked the checkpost shortly after midnight," an intelligence official in the region told Reuters.
"Eight soldiers were killed and twelve were wounded," he added. Security forces hit back at the militants, killing at least 12 of them and wounding five, another official said.
Makeen was once a stronghold of Hakeemullah Mehsud, the overall leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan. This area is not under the control of Mullah Nazir, who has been the focus of five Predator airstrikes this month. Hakeemullah and Nazir are rivals of sorts (although Nazir has allowed Hakeemullah's forces to shelter in his tribal areas after the Pakistani Army launched an offensive against the Mehsuds in October 2009).
My theory on this is that the Pakistani military made a big mistake over a year ago - they went into South Waziristan and really did gut the place for Taliban. However, most of the Taliban there just simply fled to the neighboring agency of North Waziristan. The Pakistani government refused to invest in another operation to clean out North Waziristan and so, a year later, we have now seen the Taliban filter back into South Waziristan. We have seen this same tactic in Afghanistan ....there were areas of Helmand province that the British would go in and clean out but would simply move on to other areas and the Taliban would then backfill the area that was just cleaned out.
Bottom line here is that the Pakistanis are paying the price for literally no military operations against the Taliban in over six months - the Taliban have regrouped, they have brought in more and more fighters and now they are on the warpath.
Taliban kill 8 Pakistani soldiers in South Waziristan attack
The Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan has regrouped in the tribal agency of South Waziristan. Today, a heavily armed Taliban force estimated at 150 fighters attacked a military post in the town of Makeen and killed eight Pakistani troops. Twelve Taliban fighters were reported killed in the counterattack. From Reuters:
Around 150 militants armed with rockets attacked a security checkpost in Pakistan's Waziristan on Thursday, killing eight soldiers, intelligence officials said, as tensions rise in the border region. Twelve militants were killed in retaliatory firing by security forces.
The attack came on the heels of stepped-up missile strikes by U.S. drone aircraft in the tribal region along the Afghan border regarded as a hub of militants from around the world.
"The militants were carrying rockets and heavy weapons and attacked the checkpost shortly after midnight," an intelligence official in the region told Reuters.
"Eight soldiers were killed and twelve were wounded," he added. Security forces hit back at the militants, killing at least 12 of them and wounding five, another official said.
Makeen was once a stronghold of Hakeemullah Mehsud, the overall leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan. This area is not under the control of Mullah Nazir, who has been the focus of five Predator airstrikes this month. Hakeemullah and Nazir are rivals of sorts (although Nazir has allowed Hakeemullah's forces to shelter in his tribal areas after the Pakistani Army launched an offensive against the Mehsuds in October 2009).
The Pakistani military has claimed it defeated Hakeemullah's forces, but the group preserved the bulk of its fighting forces and all of its leaders by conducting a tactical withdrawal and leaving a rearguard force behind to battle the government troops. Meanwhile, the Pakistani military fought a halfhearted campaign. The military "largely stayed close to the roads and did not engage against those [Pakistani Taliban] militants who returned after fleeing into North Waziristan," according to a US government report that was leaked in October 2010.
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