The New Nation - Internet Edition

Reuters, Islamabad

Pakistani soldiers have entered an important militant bastion in South Waziristan, security officials said on Friday, as gunmen wounded an army brigadier and his driver in a drive-by shooting in the capital.

The army went on the offensive in South Waziristan, a lawless ethnic Pashtun region on the Afghan border, on October 17 aiming to root out Pakistani Taliban militants behind a wave of violence in urban areas.

The offensive is closely watched by the United States and other powers embroiled in neighboring Afghanistan, as South Waziristan's rugged landscape of barren mountains and hidden ravines has become a global center of Islamist militancy.

Soldiers have been advancing into the militant heartland from three directions and had entered the militant-held village of Makeen, military and intelligence officials said.

"We have not seen much resistance as we entered Makeen," said a senior military official in the region who declined to be identified. "Our troops are now clearing mines and IEDs (improvised explosive devices) and moving forward."

An intelligence agency official said seven militants had been killed in clashes in Makeen, where Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud was killed in an attack by a U.S. missile-firing drone aircraft in early August.

Military spokesmen were not available for comment.

There was no independent verification of the report as journalists are not allowed into the area except on an occasional trip chaperoned by the military. Foreign al Qaeda fighters are believed to be hiding in South Waziristan along with thousands of Pakistani insurgents. As the army squeezes militants out of their strongholds they have retaliated with bomb attacks and shootings in urban areas. In the latest such attack, gunmen opened fire on a vehicle in Islamabad, wounding a brigadier and his driver. Dawn television said the brigadier worked for a military intelligence agency. A brigadier and his driver were killed in a similar shooting on October 22. Days later gunmen opened fire at a military vehicle but the occupants escaped unharmed.

The violence has unsettled trade on Pakistan's stock market and the main index was 1.54 percent lower at 8,971.59 when the bourse closed for a midday break. "Ahead of the long weekend, investors are very cautious because of political uncertainty and security fears," said Mohammed Sohail, chief executive at Topline Securities. "Nobody wants to take any risks."

Meanwhile, gunmen on a motorcycle wounded a senior army officer and soldier in the Pakistani capital Friday, the third such attack in about two weeks as militants retaliate against a new military offensive along the Afghan border.

The militants hope the wave of attacks, which have killed some 300 civilians and security forces in the past month, will weaken the army's resolve as it pushes deeper into South Waziristan, the mountainous stronghold of the Taliban and al-Qaida in Pakistan.

Gunmen opened fire at the personal vehicle of the army officer, who held the rank of brigadier, while it was in a residential district of Islamabad, said police official Mohammad Asghar. The gunmen then sped off, he said.

Hospital official Arshad Khokhar said the brigadier and the soldier, who was also in the vehicle, were in stable condition. A brigadier is equivalent to a brigadier general in the U.S. Army.

The attack followed two similar shootings last month in Islamabad.

Gunmen on a motorcycle shot and killed a brigadier and a soldier on Oct. 22 as they were riding in an army jeep in Islamabad in what was believed to be the first assassination of an army officer in the capital.

Less than a week later, gunmen attacked another brigadier as he was driving to a bank in Islamabad with his mother, but they escaped unharmed.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but suspicions fell on the Pakistani Taliban, which has declared war on the government because the group deems it unIslamic and is angry about its support for the U.S. war on terror.

The Taliban have claimed responsibility for scores of attacks in Pakistan, many of them carried out by suicide bombers. The recent shootings could indicate the militants are also turning to targeted assassinations to stoke even more fear.