Pak military vows full control in Taliban infested tribal belt

The military made the claim as they accompanied a team of foreign journalists to Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan near the border with Afghanistan.

Briefing journalists at a heavily fortified military headquarters in the town, top officials said 39 "major operations" had been conducted since July last year to flush out al-Qaeda linked foreign and local militants.

Miranshah was the scene of fierce battles between pro-Taliban militants and the army in March, which killed 145 militants including 23 foreigners, chief military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan told reporters.

He said up to 1,500 militants had attacked Miranshah and described the March 4-8 clashes as the heaviest in the region, where hundreds of Taliban and al-Qaeda militants are known to have sought refuge after fleeing Afghanistan.

In April near Miranshah, the military said it had killed senior al-Qaeda operative and explosives expert Muhsin Musa Matwalli Atwah, also known as Abdul Rehman al-Muhajir, indicted in the United States over the 1998 twin embassy bombings in east Africa.

Sultan however acknowledged that the body of the suspect had never been found.