Pro-Taliban militants have hit back at the Pakistani army and recaptured a strategic town as the battle between insurgents and government troops intensifies in South Waziristan. On Monday, the army captured the small town of Kotkai, the birthplace of Pakistani militant chief Hakimullah Mehsud, who has attacked high-profile targets across the country over the past few weeks.
But security officials told the Reuters news agency that militants had struck back on Tuesday and retaken Kotkai. However, the Pakistani army still controlls the hills surrounding the town.
The town is also the hometown of Qari Hussain Mehsud, a senior militant commander who also trains teenagers to become suicide bombers.
Military sources say 90 insurgents and 13 troops have been killed since the long-awaited risky offensive began on Saturday.
Nearly 30,000 army soldiers have been deployed to fight against the militants based in the northwestern tribal area of South Waziristan, bordering Afghanistan.
A United Nations report said the prospect of the attacks in Waziristan had prompted 80,000 people to flee the area while the raids are expected to make another 170,000 homeless,
Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the insurgents had long campaigned to destabilize the South Asian country. "We are in a state of war. They will make every effort to destabilize the country."