(Image from The BBC)From Times Online:
IN a bleak mountainous setting, 18 men in balaclavas who are loyal to Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of Pakistan’s Taliban, fire automatic weapons into the hillside in a display of force.
The 39-minute jihadist video, entitled Revenge - the Big Attacks of Baitullah Mehsud, and posted on an Al-Qaeda website last week, is the first footage from a training camp in Mehsud’s stronghold of South Waziristan. As the Pakistani army is set to attempt to obliterate Mehsud and his militants, the video’s release may warn of determined resistance.
A few weeks ago, an intercepted telephone conversation between two Taliban leaders suggested Mehsud had dispatched a new wave of suicide bombers across Pakistan. In Peshawar, North West Frontier Province, where the Taliban are suspected of bombing the Pearl Continental hotel this month, killing 18 people, markets and cafes are deserted as people stay at home.
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Update: Pakistan reports first militants killed in South Waziristan -- Christian Science Monitor
My Comment: This battle is probably going to be even more bloodier than what has happened in the Swat Valley. Expect a doubling of refugees and a sky-high casualty rate.