Photos and text by Masroor Gilani
South Waziristan is one of seven lawless tribal districts of Pakistan which border the war-wrecked Afghanistan. Thousands of Pakistani soldiers are deployed in the area and have fought pitch battles with Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters since 2003, but militancy continue to rise and spread into Pakistani urban areas.Â
 The Taliban were ousted by a US-led military in late 2001 for its failure to hand over Al-Qaeda terror network chief Osama bin Laden whom the US accuses of masterminding the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
 The photos here provide a glimpse of the region, the home of militant commander Baitullah Mehsud whom the CIA and Pakistan government accuse of masterminding the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto. Mehsud denies the charge.Â
Bhutto, a two-time former prime minister, was killed in a gun and suicide attack in Rawalpindi, a garrison city near capital Islamabad on December 27. Her Pakistan Peoples Party which won most seats in February 18, 2008 elections, has demanded United Nations investigations into her killing, expressing lack of confidence in the US-backed President Pervez Musharraf.
South Waziristan is one of seven lawless tribal districts of Pakistan which border the war-wrecked Afghanistan. Thousands of Pakistani soldiers are deployed in the area and have fought pitch battles with Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters since 2003, but militancy continue to rise and spread into Pakistani urban areas.Â
Hundreds of people have been killed and injured in suicide bombings inside Pakistan blamed on the mix of local and foreign militants who supported Afghanistan's fundamentalist Taliban regime.
 The Taliban were ousted by a US-led military in late 2001 for its failure to hand over Al-Qaeda terror network chief Osama bin Laden whom the US accuses of masterminding the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
 The photos here provide a glimpse of the region, the home of militant commander Baitullah Mehsud whom the CIA and Pakistan government accuse of masterminding the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto. Mehsud denies the charge.Â
Bhutto, a two-time former prime minister, was killed in a gun and suicide attack in Rawalpindi, a garrison city near capital Islamabad on December 27. Her Pakistan Peoples Party which won most seats in February 18, 2008 elections, has demanded United Nations investigations into her killing, expressing lack of confidence in the US-backed President Pervez Musharraf.
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