Pakistani forces have pounded Taliban positions with heavy artillery, pressing a major operation in South Waziristan for a second day and reportedly killing up to 60 militants.
The rugged district is part of a tribal belt on the Afghan border, home to thousands of Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked fighters.
Troops trained heavy artillery on Taliban bases overnight after advancing on three fronts, pressing an offensive planned for months that poses the biggest challenge to date in Pakistan's war against Islamist militants.
'In the last 24 hours, reportedly 60 terrorists have been killed in operation Rah-e-Nijat,' the Pakistani military said in a statement.
Information was impossible to check, however, with all access to the region cut off and the military not giving its own figures.
Pakistan vowed to root out militants after a spike in a two-year Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked campaign of attacks that has made the country a frontline in the US-led war on terror.
More than 100,000 civilians have fled South Waziristan, normally home to 600,000 people, since August and officials said the number could more than double.
Commanders have outlined an offensive lasting six to eight weeks, with the goal of finishing before the onset of harsh winter snows.
There are an estimated 10,000 to 12,000 fighters from the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) movement in South Waziristan and up to 25,000 across Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal belt, which has a history of fierce independence.
Pakistan's military has said Central Asian militants, mainly Uzbeks, as well as Arabs, north Africans and even some Europeans are also in the area.
US officials say al-Qaeda fled into the tribal areas after US-led operations toppled the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001 and is now using the area as a base for plotting attacks on the West and the region.
