Insurgents driven from stronghold, army says

A two-month offensive by Pakistani forces has driven militants from a stronghold through which Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters had poured into neighboring Afghanistan to attack U.S. troops, the army said.

The military said its forces had captured Loi Sam in the Bajaur tribal region. The town sits on a vital intersection linking the border to three neighboring Pakistan regions.

“Now we have complete control in this area from where miscreants used to go to Afghanistan, Mohmand, Dir and Swat,” army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas told reporters in Bajaur.