Army: Pakistan Troops Capture Militant Stronghold -- Yahoo News/APLOI SAM, Pakistan – Pakistan's army captured a key militant stronghold near the Afghan border, a breakthrough in a bloody push against the Taliban and al-Qaida that has claimed 95 civilian lives, the military said Saturday.
Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said troops on Saturday captured Loi Sam, a town in the Bajur region sitting on a vital intersection connecting the border to three neighboring Pakistani regions.
"Now we have complete control in this area from where miscreants used to go to Afghanistan," Abbas told reporters flown into Bajur on a military helicopter Saturday. "Miscreants have been expelled or killed."
Pakistan's army launched an offensive in Bajur in early August, saying the region had become a "mega-sanctuary" for militants waging an intensifying insurgency on both sides of the frontier.
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More News On Pakistan's Frontier Regions
Pakistan forces 'take key town' -- BBC
Pakistan troops overcome militant stronghold: military -- AFP
Taliban stronghold seized, claims army -- Radio France
Pakistan "turns corner" in offensive, commander -- Reuters
Pakistan says 1 500 militants, 73 troops killed -- Mail & Guardian Online
Pakistan's hidden war -- The Independent