LETTING THE ALLIES DO THE FIGHTING:

Pakistan Claims New Victory Against Al-Qaida Fighters (Ayaz Gul, 13 November 2004, VOA News)

Regional military commander Major General Niaz Khattak says that his forces have taken control of three-fourths of South Waziristan, a remote mountainous region he says serves as a haven for foreign guerillas.

The general made the remarks on Saturday during a military-arranged press visit to Wana, the administrative center of the border region.

General Khattak says until March of this year, there were as many as 600 such militants, staging attacks in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

But he says that the anti-terror operations have reduced these numbers drastically.