© Anjum Naveed/APPakistani troops training in the tribal region along the Afghan border. The army said it has launched a 'comprehensive operation' against foreign and local militants in North Waziristan.
Up to 30,000 troops thought to be involved in operation to destroy bases of terrorist groups operating from North WaziristanA long-awaited military campaign to destroy militant safe havens in a
Taliban-dominated part of
Pakistan's borderlands began , years after the US first demanded action.
The army said it had launched a "comprehensive operation against foreign and local terrorists who are hiding in sanctuaries in North Waziristan", the troubled tribal region that has served as a staging area for attacks across Pakistan and
Afghanistan.
Military sources said as many as 30,000 troops could be involved in the operation to secure the border region, which the army believes must be completed before the end of Nato combat operations this year in Afghanistan.
An official statement said "Operation Zarb-e-Azb" had been launched "on the directions of the government", but the decision follows months of public controversy over the issue, with leading politicians arguing any attempt to seize control of the area would provoke a violent backlash by the Pakistani Taliban in the country's cities.
Pakistan's prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, had instead tried to negotiate a peace deal with militants, something most experts said had no chance of success given the record of militants breaking ceasefires.
Sharif's obstinacy in the face of army demands for North Waziristan to be dealt with before summer has exacerbated tensions between Pakistan's civilian and military leaderships, who have clashed over the treason trial of former military ruler Pervez Musharraf.
The military statement said the country could not afford to wait any longer. "Using North Waziristan as a base, these terrorists had waged a war against the state of Pakistan and had been disrupting our national life in all its dimensions, stunting our economic growth and causing enormous loss of life and property," it said.
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