MIRANSHAH, Pakistan The Taliban hit back Wednesday at claims that towns in their mountain bastion have fallen to Pakistan army control, vowing their guerrilla war would defeat troops waging a major assault.
The United States has welcomed Pakistan's offensive, which threw 30,000 troops into battle on October 17 on a mission to crush the network blamed for some of the country's deadliest recent bomb attacks.
"We have not been defeated. We have voluntarily withdrawn into the mountains under a strategy that will trap the Pakistan army in the area," Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq told journalists taken blindfold to a mountain top.
Pakistan's main umbrella Taliban faction, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) arranged a news conference for journalists from the tribal belt a day after the military flew correspondents into South Waziristan to visit the battlefield.
The army told reporters that troops waging a major ground and air offensive for five weeks had captured most towns once under rebel control in South Waziristan, part of Pakistan's militant-infested tribal belt.
The United Nations said Wednesday that 268,000 people have been verified as displaced by the offensive, staying with relatives, friends, host families or in rented houses, and the UN is helping distribute tents and other aid.
The assault has been welcomed by the United States, which calls Pakistan's tribal belt the most dangerous place on Earth, where Al-Qaeda plot attacks on the West and the Taliban direct attacks on NATO troops in Afghanistan.
US President Barack Obama has reportedly increased pressure on Pakistan to fight, not just Tehreek-e-Taliban that launches attacks within Pakistan, but Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants active in Afghanistan.
An AFP reporter, who was among those taken to the mountain top, said the bearded Tariq sat on the open ground, without a rug or chairs.
Tariq, who is spokesman for TTP chief Hakimullah Mehsud, was flanked by two armed bodyguards. This was his first direct interaction with journalists since the military mounted the Waziristan offensive.
South Waziristan -- like most of the tribal belt on the Afghan border -- is closed to independent travel for reporters and to aid workers, giving room for the military and the Taliban to battle out their rival claims in the media.
Journalists from North Waziristan were driven to the border with South Waziristan in broad daylight where they were blindfolded and transferred into waiting vehicles, said the AFP reporter.
They were then taken several kilometres into the rugged terrain where troops backed by fighter aircraft and attack helicopters were engaged in their heaviest to date anti-Taliban offensive.
Gunfire could be heard from the mountains while one military helicopter was also seen flying in the area.
"Look -- the firing is in Nawazkot of Makin town. But this is a futile exercise, the army will never succeed in seizing control of the area," Tariq said pointing to the helicopter.
"The army claims they have captured most of the towns. This is wrong, in fact we have vacated old forts which we captured from them in previous clashes. The troops are trapped there and we will retake the area," he added.
The military says 550 militants and 70 soldiers have been killed since the army offensive began, but none of the losses can be confirmed independently.
Previous offensives in the region have ended with peace deals, which critics argued allowed militants to re-arm, and analysts warn that Pakistan should bankroll a major reconstruction effort to hold onto bomb-damaged war zones.
Military losses are far fewer than in the past as security officials warn that many Islamist fighters have escaped into the neighbouring districts of North Waziristan and Orakzai.
The Taliban spokesman on Wednesday denied reports from tribesmen that the fighters had lost the sympathies of the local Mehsud tribe and spurned army claims of heavy Taliban casualties.
"The Pakistan government was doing this only to appease the Americans," he added. But he vowed the Taliban will continue their jihad in Afghanistan until the withdrawal of US forces.
AFP: Taliban declare guerrilla war
Well i suggest you remain in those mountains holes until the army comes, because if you do come out now you will be sent straight to hell.
but after all we are talking about Man in burqas who pick on children and women what else could we expect from cowards.
