Pakistan Army Kills 50 Taliban In New Battles

The news coming out of Pakistan continues to be excellent in regards to the military's operations against the Taliban in the NW provinces along the Afghan border - the latest being that 50 Taliban were killed in the area of Bajur. Here's some of the details from an updated report here at Breitbart:

An army spokesman says security forces backed by helicopter gunships and artillery have killed more than 50 suspected militants in volatile northwest Pakistan.

He says security forces Tuesday are carrying out the operation in the town of Darra Adam Khel and surrounding areas close to Pakistan's tribal regions. He says the security forces have retaken control of a key tunnel in the Kohat area.
The U.S. has urged Pakistan to crack down on al-Qaida and Taliban militants sheltering in pockets of its northwest.

The latest casualties came early Tuesday when 10 suspected militants died in a shootout with security forces on the outskirts of Bajur's main city of Khar, government official Iqbal Khattak said. He said some security forces were wounded, but he would not say how many.
Washington says the operation in Bajur—a rumored hiding place of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and other militant leaders—appears to have reduced violence across the border in Afghanistan.
Pakistan's chief army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas has said Bajur had turned into a "mega-sanctuary" for militants and the military was determined to flush them out.

That quote from the Pakistani army spokesman shows that the military is finally admitting how lax they had been and to what extent that they had let the Taliban infiltrate this whole NW region of the country.

The encouraging part of all of this is that even after the Marriott bombing in Islamabad, the government has continued the military's operations - in the past, any time the Taliban and/or al Qaeda had struck one of the metro areas of Pakistan, the government had stopped operations in the NW provinces and tried to strike some sort of deal with the Taliban.

Pakistan army says 50 suspected militants killed

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - An army spokesman says security forces backed by helicopter gunships and artillery have killed more than 50 suspected militants in volatile northwest Pakistan.
Maj. Murad Khan says the clashes since Monday also killed a soldier.
He says security forces Tuesday are carrying out the operation in the town of Darra Adam Khel and surrounding areas close to Pakistan's tribal regions. He says the security forces have retaken control of a key tunnel in the Kohat area.
The U.S. has urged Pakistan to crack down on al-Qaida and Taliban militants sheltering in pockets of its northwest.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
KHAR, Pakistan (AP)—Security forces killed 10 suspected insurgents Tuesday as part of an ongoing offensive near the Afghan border aimed at denying al-Qaida and Taliban militants safe havens there.
The offensive in the Bajur tribal region has won praise from U.S. officials worried about rising violence in Pakistan and Afghanistan, but has triggered retaliatory suicide bombings elsewhere in Pakistan.
Some officials believe the weekend bombing of the Marriott Hotel that killed 53 in the capital Islamabad was in response to the operations, which the army says have left more than 700 suspected militants dead since early August.
The latest casualties came early Tuesday when 10 suspected militants died in a shootout with security forces on the outskirts of Bajur's main city of Khar, government official Iqbal Khattak said. He said some security forces were wounded, but he would not say how many.
Washington says the operation in Bajur—a rumored hiding place of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and other militant leaders—appears to have reduced violence across the border in Afghanistan.
Pakistan's chief army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas has said Bajur had turned into a "mega-sanctuary" for militants and the military was determined to flush them out.
However, a rash of U.S. cross-border operations in neighboring tribal regions, including suspected missile strikes and a ground assault, underscore Washington's concerns that Pakistan is either unwilling or incapable of rooting out extremists on its own.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari was expected to discuss the cross-border attacks with President Bush on Tuesday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York.