Pakistan advance into Taliban leader's hometown

PARACHINAR, Pakistan — Soldiers destroyed a house belonging to Pakistan's Taliban chief Wednesday as they pushed into his hometown, the latest advance in a major offensive targeting an insurgent stronghold along the Afghan border, intelligence officials said.

As the battle raged, intelligence officials said suspected U.S. missiles had killed two militants in a neighboring region — a potentially troubling strike because it hit territory controlled by another militant faction the army has coaxed into neutrality during its offensive.

The five-day-old offensive in South Waziristan is considered a critical test of the nuclear-armed country's campaign against Islamist extremists blamed for soaring attacks at home and on Western forces in neighboring Afghanistan.

On Tuesday, twin suicide bombings killed six people at Islamabad's International Islamic University in apparent retaliation for the offensive. All educational institutions in the country were closed Wednesday, showing the militants' ability to disrupt daily life.

The military is advancing on three fronts in South Waziristan. The fight for Kotkai town is symbolically key because Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud and a top deputy, Qari Hussain, hail from there. It also lies on the way to the major militant base of Sararogha.

An army statement Wednesday said forces were engaged in "intense encounters" in heights surrounding Kotkai and had secured an area east of it. Two intelligence officials said troops had secured parts of the town also destroyed houses belonging to Mehsud and Hussain in controlled explosions.

Security forces also cleared Khaisura, a village on another front in the offensive, according to the army statement. Heavily fortified bunkers were found, some with two-meter thick concrete walls, the army said.

It reported three more soldiers were killed, bringing the army's death toll so far to 16, while 15 more militants were slain, bringing their overall death toll to 105.

It is nearly impossible to independently verify information coming from South Waziristan because the army has closed off all roads to the region. Analysts say both sides have exaggerated successes and downplayed losses in the past.

The missile strike Wednesday targeted Spalaga, a village with at least 1,000 homes in the North Waziristan tribal region. Two intelligence officials said at least two suspected insurgents were killed. Their exact identities were not immediately known.