MIR ALI, Pakistan: Pakistani forces exchanged heavy fire yesterday with Taliban defending their heartland, a day after launching an offensive aimed at bringing the writ of the state to lawless lands on the Afghan border.

The army said 60 militants and five soldiers had been killed in the first 24 hours of a long-awaited offensive on the global Islamist hub of South Waziristan. Soldiers were securing territory while some militants were fleeing, it said.

It was not possible to independently verify those figures because reporters have been stopped from getting close to the battlefield.