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The Pakistani army has said it has pushed deeper into South Waziristan as it battles to wrestle control of the region from the Taliban and al-Qaeda. On the offensive’s third day, the army said it had captured important strategic heights in the mountains. Nine soldiers and 78 militants have now been killed, the army says, though no independent verification of the figures is possible. Up to 100,000 civilians have fled the conflict zone, according to the army. We get an update from the BBC’s Aleem Maqbool.

• BBC coverage
• Pakistan’s Waziristan challenge

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MARCO WERMAN: I’m Marco Werman. This is The World. Islamist extremists in Pakistan have been based in South Waziristan for years. The militants plot attacks on Western troops in Afghanistan and on the Pakistani state from the region. The US has pressed Pakistan to go after the militants and now it’s doing just that. Today a spokesman for Pakistan’s army said his troops are continuing an offensive and have killed many Taliban and al-Qaeda insurgents. But the Taliban say they too have inflicted heavy casualties. The BBC’s Aleem Maqbool is on the border of South Waziristan. And Aleem how close have you gotten to the fighting today?

ALEEM MAQBOOL: Well all access routes into and out of South Waziristan have been blocked mainly because the Pakistani army is worried about reinforcements going in for the Taliban or Taliban militants escaping out. So we haven’t been allowed in. We’ve just been on the edges watching the people come out – the civilians coming out of South Waziristan – and hearing the stories that they’ve got to tell.

WERMAN: Well I’d like to ask you about some of those refugees in just a moment. But describe for us if you would the force of this offensive that the Pakistani army is bringing to the front line.

MAQBOOL: Well look as you rightly said this really is the heart of militancy in northwest Pakistan so they needed to fight the estimated 10,000 or so Islamist militants a decent size force. And what the Pakistani army has mobilized is around 28,000 troops we hear and these are backed also by military aircraft as well have been bombardment over the last 24 hours. And they say they’re making decent progress. On the other side through, they have Taliban militants who have been preparing this fight not just for the last few months when the Pakistani government said explicitly that this offensive would happen at some time but perhaps for years even. They’ve known this fight was coming. We’ve heard from a lot of the families that are coming out, they’ve been saying you know in our towns, in our villages, the militants know every mountain. They know every tree. They know every building. So they were slightly skeptical about the claims that the Pakistani army was making sort of made such big progress in such short a time.

WERMAN: Of course whenever an area comes under attack people flee and there is a potential humanitarian crisis shaping up here. Up to 150,000 civilians have left the region in recent months after it became clear the army was planning an attack. And more people are expected to flee in the coming weeks. You are in Dera Ismail Khan, right on the border of South Waziristan Aleem. Are these people fleeing into a town there unprepared for them with no supplies or inventory for thousands of people?

MAQBOOL: Yeah it would absolutely seem so. I mean we went this morning to what we were told was a displaced persons registration center. We saw hundreds and hundreds of people. I mean mainly the men folk, in long lines where they put their names down. And that was about it. We didn’t find anywhere in Dera Ismail Khan where people were given tents or blankets or food or money. And that what the story from a lot of the families that we spoke to. They were basically relying on the generosity of families here to take them in.

WERMAN: Aleem there continues to be speculation as to just how stable and secure the Pakistani government is. How much is riding on this whole operation for the government right now?

MAQBOOL: Well actually I mean after the Swat Operation earlier this year which was considered to be a success the government, it seemed, was very comfortable the way it was. And then suddenly we had this huge change over the last couple of week where we had attacks right across the country. Militant attacks hitting the very heart of the establishment and people started to ask you know if those places could be hit then what about perhaps the nuclear facilities. Perhaps the government itself could be taken over. I mean all of those questions have been batted away of course by the government. But it is a very dangerous time for the Pakistani government. They have said this is something they’ve got to do for the future of Pakistan. But you know a lot of people are looking at what’s going on and saying well if the target is to rid South Waziristan of militants and stop it being a base for al-Qaeda and the Taliban that looks almost impossible. A lot of people are saying they are setting themselves for a big fall. But they have invested a lot into this and that’s why they say they’ve put so many troops on the ground. And that’s why they say that this is going to be the fight that ends the issues in South Waziristan.

WERMAN: The BBC’s Aleem Maqbool in Dera Ismail Khan on the border of South Waziristan. Thanks very much for your time as always.

MAQBOOL: My pleasure.

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