Home Town Captured....

Smoke rising from what is thought to be Pakistani airstrikes on Taliban positions on Wednesday Oct. 21, 2009, near the town of Ladha Makeen, Pakistan. Taliban fighters in the South Waziristan area preparing weapons for an attack, military aircraft can be heard and explosions with smoke rising from the ground. Pakistani soldiers captured the hometown of the country's Taliban chief Saturday, a strategic and symbolic initial prize as the army pushes deeper into a militant stronghold along the Afghan border.
Washington has encouraged the operation in the northwest because many militants there are believed to shelter al-Qaida leaders and are also suspected to be involved in attacks on Western troops in Afghanistan. The U.S. military has also kept up its own missile strikes in the lawless tribal belt, including a suspected one that killed 22 Saturday.