Taliban Show No Let Up Despite 8,000 Soldiers In FATA -- Daily TimesLAHORE: Taliban hostilities show no sign of abating despite the deployment of 8,000 troops in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and the army’s claim of killing 1,000 Taliban, according to The Times.
The newspaper said in a report on Saturday that a constant supply of fresh fighters from inside the country and across the border in Afghanistan is helping the Taliban to stay in the fight.
Bajaur Agency is a main operating base for Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Pakistani intelligence believes that Ayman al-Zawahri, the second-in-command of Al Qaeda, has been a visitor.
The report says the roots of the Marriott hotel attack and other incidents of violence across Pakistan, however, are to be found in Taliban strongholds such as Bajaur.
“Militant groups that have been banned have mutated into small cells and found a common cause with Al Qaeda,” the report said, and cited Pakistani security and intelligence officials believing the attack at the Marriott had signaled the beginning of a new phase of the Al Qaeda offensive in Pakistan.
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More News On Pakistan's Tribal Regions
Taliban, al-Qaeda fight to the death in Pakistan -- M&C
Battle of Bajaur a crucial test for Pakistan -- AFP
Taliban Conscripting Sons In Pakistan -- Threatswatch
ANALYSIS: Re-orienting Pakistan -- Daily Times
33 killed in militant stronghold -- The Scotsman
40 killed in intense fighting in Pak's Bajaur region -- Times Of India
Pakistani Army: More Militants Killed in Northwestern Operation -- Voice Of America
My Comment: So much for this much publicized "truce" during Ramadan. Pakistan is in the grips of a civil war.