Pakistan poised for major assault against Taliban

The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) carried out airstrikes at the start of October on suspected Taliban locations in the country's Waziristan region along the Afghan border.

The strikes come as the army appeared to finalise plans for an all-out attack in the region, according to senior Pakistani government officials, although they would not confirm the date when the airstrikes took place.

"We are ready to go in for an attack at short notice. The decision has been made to attack Waziristan. The question is not if but when an attack takes place," one official told Jane's .

For Pakistan, an attack on Waziristan, which follows the military's campaign to the northern Swat district occupied by the Taliban earlier this year, marks an important next step in seizing back key Taliban strongholds. The Swat campaign eventually resulted in the Taliban being pushed out of that area.

In the past five years, Waziristan has become a hotbed of activities by militants loyal to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. In 2007, the Taliban in Waziristan were brought together by Baitullah Mehsud, a key military leader, under the banner of 'Tehreek-e-Taliban' or TTP, the main umbrella outfit of the militant movement.

Under Mehsud's leadership, the Taliban began carrying out suicide attacks in different parts of Pakistan. Mehsud was killed in August during a missile strike, widely believed to have been carried out by a US-operated unmanned aerial vehicle.