Pakistani ground troops escalate hostilities in North Waziristan

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/22/pakistan-ground-troops-militants-north-waziristan

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Pakistani troops began a rare ground operation against militants in the troubled North Waziristan region on Thursday, a significant escalation of hostilities at a time when the government is trying to talk to Taliban leaders.

The fighting took place around militant bases on the outskirts of Miran Shah, the capital of North Waziristan, the tribal "agency" bordering Afghanistan that has become a sanctuary for the Pakistani Taliban and many other Islamist militant groups. Ground troops were supported by artillery fire, helicopter gunships and reconnaissance drones.

On Wednesday there were air strikes on tribal regions that Pakistan claimed had killed more than 70 militants, although locals reported many of the victims were civilians. Eleven militants and four soldiers were also killed in a clash on the same day.

Analysts have long anticipated a major military operation in North Waziristan this year – something Pakistan's senior generals are thought to be keen on. However the civilian government led by Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister, has resisted the military pressure, attempting instead to open talks with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as the main militant alliance is known.

The army has been forced to limit its actions to retaliatory air strikes on militant hideouts, which usually follow significant attacks on army targets.

The involvement of ground troops marked Thursday's operations out as different, but Saifullah Mehsud, the director of a research organisation that focuses on Pakistan's restless western border, said nothing had changed.

"An operation will come eventually, but this is just more of what the army calls targeted operations," he said. "Targeted in the sense of limited, but not in the sense of not killing civilians."

On Wednesday fighter jets bombed areas in North Waziristan, which an army spokesman said killed scores of "hardcore terrorists including some of the important commanders and foreigners". Army spokesmen made clear it was in response to attacks in the preceding weeks in the troubled western region and also the city of Karachi.

Despite numerous meetings between government and TTP representatives the peace talks initiative appears to be going nowhere.

Terrorist attacks have continued and the movement has been riven by factional infighting. Last week a video emerged of TTP leader Mullah Fazlullah vowing the movement would continue its fight until Pakistan introduced strict sharia law.

Imran Khan, the opposition politician who staunchly supports peace talks, expressed "serious concern" saying he feared the army's attacks could be the start of a "full-scale ground operation" that could lead to more refugees flooding out of the area to other parts of the country.