The Pakistani military continues to underreport its casualties in the tribal areas and the settled districts of the Northwest Frontier Province. The latest misrepresentation occurred in the Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan, which, along with other tribal agencies, the government has ceded to the Taliban.
On Wednesday, the Pakistani military claimed six soldiers were killed and 20 wounded after an ambush near Mir Ali. But Dawn reports the results of the ambush and other attacks in the tribal agency resulted in 15 soldiers killed and 38 wounded. The U.S. military has yet to take such casualties during a single day of combat in Iraq.
Fifteen soldiers were killed and 38 others injured in several attacks in different areas of North Waziristan on the border of Afghanistan on Wednesday...
According to the Pakistani daily, Dawn, the government's Inter Services Public Relations said in a statement that six soldiers had been killed and 25 injured in a roadside ambush. It said militants had suffered 15 casualties in a counter-attack.
Sources said a military convoy, travelling from Miramshah to Razmak, came under intense firing by militants after it had hit an improvised explosive device in the Dosali area. The assailants reportedly used heavy machine-guns and rockets and three army trucks were damaged in the attack.
While the Pakistani military is showcasing its offensive against Maulana Fazlullah's local Taliban in Swat (which the military has failed to fully secure after nearly two months of combat operations), the military was roundly defeated in a series of intense battles in North and neighboring South Waziristan in September and October. The Taliban fought the Pakistani military to a standstill, while hundreds of Pakistani paramilitary and regular soldiers were captured and scores killed during the bloody battles.
In South Waziristan, the Pakistani government caved to the demands of Taliban chieftain Baitullah Mehsud. Twenty-five senior Taliban leaders were released, including Afghan Taliban commanders such as Mullah Obaidullah and Amir Khan Haqqani. The government also reinstated the 2005 Sara Rogha accord, which gave the Taliban legal control over the agency which they commanded militarily.
The Pakistani military may be touting its limited success against the B team of Fazlullah's Taliban in Swat, but the A teams in Bajuar, North and South Waziristan, and throughout the tribal agencies and several settled districts in the Northwest Frontier Province remain unchallenged.
