I expect to see the Taliban going crazy any minute now , if the Pakistani military really has captured these strategic areas .
With the military so close to a major stronghold and so little really happening , it makes you wonder what is going on ?
Either the Taliban are really big chickenshits , or the Pakistani Military are on the verge of the fight of their lives !
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Pakistan's army fought more intense clashes Sunday with the Taliban as it followed up the capture of their leader's hometown by claiming control of one of the Islamists' mountain strongholds.
On the ninth day of an offensive in the South Waziristan tribal area designed to deal a knockout blow to the Taliban, the military said it had killed 15 more rebel fighters while one soldier had also died in the fighting.
The heaviest exchanges centred around Tarkona Narai, a mountain which overlooks a key junction in the semi-autonomous territory and which the army said contained a series of Taliban bunkers.
"Today after intense engagements security forces secured the significant mountain top of Tarkona Narai after an effort lasting 16 hours," the military said in a statement.
The army said that it had also secured more strategically-important territory close to the town of Kotkai, the hometown of Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud which was finally overrun in the early hours of Saturday.
Troops clashed with militants during their advance from Kotkai towards Shesham Wam and Baddar areas in the rugged tribal terrain on the Afghan border, other military officials said.
Jets and attack helicopters were providing support to the ground forces, they added.
Pakistan launched a three pronged offensive in South Waziristan region near the Afghan border on October 17 and the army says 178 militants and around two dozen troops have been killed since then.
The casualty figures are impossible to verify independently with the area closed and communication lines down.
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