Pakistan launches Taliban offensive
source: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/06/28/pakistan.taliban/?iref=hpmostpop
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http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/06/28/pakistan.taliban/?ire...
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Pakistan on Saturday launched an offensive against the Taliban -- the biggest military push against militants in Pakistan's northwestern tribal region since a civilian government took power in March.Army spokesman Gen. Athar Abbas said the operation occurred in the Khyber section of the tribal region -- west of Peshawar, the capital of the North-West Frontier Province. And it comes as the new administration announced it would get tough with radicals in the region.There had been reports that Peshawar was being threatened by militants. While Abbas said the reports were exaggerated, the military determined that the conditions in the area necessitated action.
Troops cleared three militant outposts and pushed the insurgents west, Abbas said. There were no immediate reports of militant resistance or any casualties.
The area is not far from the Afghan-Pakistan border.
The Taliban militant movement has a strong presence in the tribal region and in neighboring Afghanistan, and there also have been numerous attacks on that restive border in recent weeks.
Earlier this week, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said he hopes a newly announced Pakistani effort to clamp down on Islamic militants in its northwestern tribal districts will improve the situation in Afghanistan.
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