Pakistani soldiers have advanced faster than expected in their month-long offensive against militants in the South Waziristan region. They’ve seized main roads and Taliban bases.

Yesterday the army took reporters to the captured Taliban bastion in South Waziristan, where the former Pakistani Taliban chief was killed by a U.S. missile last August.

Surrounded by barren, rocky ridges and cut through by dried-up streams, the settlement of mud-walled compounds was deserted.

[Major General Athar Abbas, Military Spokesman]:
"This was the Frontier Corp post, and they attacked this fort; they killed 12 of our security forces personnel and the others escaped from this area. So this had significance, it had a symbolic value also. So taking it back from the terrorists in this area is a great achievement of the military.”

Pakistani forces have taken control of a militant stronghold in Ladha… but the battle was intense.

[Brigadier Farrukh Jamal, Ladha Area Commander]:
"They had occupied all these surrounding high peaks. From these peaks they gave us a very tough resistance. There was very fierce fighting here. But thank God we managed to capture all these peaks, and we killed them here."

Some militants might have slipped out of the region. They’re still believed to be hiding in the forested areas around the villages and in numerous caves in the rugged terrain.

[Brigadier Farrukh Jamal, Ladha Area Commander]:
"Right now we have surrounded 35 terrorists. There are many deep caves here, and they have dug many long tunnels in which they are hiding. But we have surrounded them, and the process is on, and God willing we will capture them soon and inform you that we have killed them."

More than 500 militants have been killed in the offensive in the last month while 70 soldiers have been killed.