Troops from the Pakistani army are pressing deep into a tribal region along the Afghan border as they try to defeat one of the country's most powerful Taliban factions.
But commanders say the bulk of the estimated 10,000 militants who were believed to be in South Waziristan when Pakistani forces began the offensive about four weeks ago have now fled, raising the prospect of a drawn-out guerrilla conflict in the region.
A daylong trip with the military to the battle zone also revealed another challenge: flattened and abandoned towns and villages that must be rebuilt, repopulated and governed once the fighting ends.
Pakistani forces moved against the dominant Taliban faction in South Waziristan in mid-October after a string of terrorist strikes in the towns and cities of the nuclear-armed South Asian nation. More than 30,000 soldiers, backed by fighter jets, helicopter gunships and artillery are now battling the militants in South Waziristan. Some 300,000 people have fled the fighting.
The militants' reprisal campaign of terror attacks in Pakistan's cities and towns has continued. The death toll from a steady series of attacks has passed 400.
Pakistani military commanders have voiced optimism that they will have South Waziristan under control before the end of the year, and that their victory will ultimately make the whole country safer.
In Sararogha, described by the army as one of the Taliban's operational nerve centers in South Waziristan, all that remained Tuesday of the village were heaps of mud bricks and twisted iron.
The army said the town's 10,000 residents had fled ahead of the assault, and that the town was seized by soldiers last week after several days of fierce fighting.
"We faced stiff resistance from the insurgents," said Brig. Mohammed Shafiq, who led the assault. He said most of the defenders were Uzbeks and Arabs, a common refrain from Pakistani commanders who have repeatedly stressed al Qaeda's role in South Waziristan.
U.S. officials have criticized Pakistan for not doing enough to tackle al Qaeda, an allegation that Pakistani officials bristle at.
Before the army's offensive, the Taliban was in full control of the town. The militants turned a ramshackle student hostel into their headquarters. One room was used as a court where alleged violators of the Taliban's harsh interpretation of Islamic law were tried.
Another part of the building was used for training suicide bombers, the army said. "Many of the suicide bombers involved in the recent attacks in Pakistani cities were trained here," said Brig. Shafiq. He didn't say how he knew this.
Sararogha was home to a British colonial-era fort where a small contingent of paramilitary forces once was based, according to the Associated Press. In January 2008, militants attacked the base and executed 25 of the soldiers, the AP said. The post and the surrounding town were abandoned to the insurgents.
Since capturing Sararogha, the army has moved its main force to the Taliban's most fortified position in the region, the town of Makeen, and are now "engaged in street-by-street fighting," said Brig. Farrukh Jamal, another commander leading forces in South Waziristan.
He, too, eagerly discussed what he said was al Qaeda's role in fomenting the Taliban insurgency in South Waziristan, where remnants of both groups found refuge after the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan. The Pakistan Taliban then grew out of the Afghan movement.
Army officers said their men had found stashes of Arabic-language jihadi literature and guerrilla training manuals in another town, Ladha, where they said al Qaeda trained.
"We have also intercepted communications confirming the presence of large number of Arabs in the area," Brig. Jamal said.
More than 500 militants and 70 soldiers have been killed since the offensive's outset, the army said. The Taliban has dismissed the army's casualty tally. Reporters are allowed to visit the region only with the military. By Zahid Hussain, The Wall Street Journal
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