Viewed from a helicopter, there is little that differentiates a cluster of farming villages just outside this remote town near the border with Afghanistan from the desolate surrounding countryside. Small patches of irrigated fields appear as specks of green in a sea of brown hills and fields. Homes are mud-brick fortresses, low buildings surrounded by walls that rise 20 feet, each compound buffered from the next by distance — usually at least half a mile. This is the territory where a battle is raging between more than 7,000 Pakistani troops and 400 to 500 surrounded Islamic militants. The fighting, which erupted unexpectedly during a government raid on Tuesday, grew so fierce that Pakistani officials concluded that their forces had surrounded a top terrorist leader, and intelligence reports had put Al Qaeda’s No. 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, in the area. Full Story
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