It seems we are taking the battle to al-Qaeda cells in Pakistan through our Pakistani allies. The first sign of activity was the exodus of locals from the northern Waziristan area because they had hints or suspicions of a pending action:

Several thousand villagers fled a Pakistani tribal region on Wednesday, where an army offensive was expected any day following pressure on Pakistan from the United States to act against al Qaeda cells.

Since President George W. Bush spoke on Saturday of being “troubled” by al Qaeda regathering its strength in Pakistan’s tribal lands, some kind of counter-terrorism operation has appeared highly probable in North Waziristan.

…

The army said it has killed at least 54 militants in clashes since Saturday, largely in retaliatory actions, but the increased deployments added to a tense atmosphere.

Thousands of villagers streamed out of Macha Mandakhel village, 40 km west of Miranshah, after the army warned it would be cracking down in the wake of an attack on a convoy which killed 12 soldiers last week.

Now we see a broad attack on specific locations in the area, some of which may house al-Qaeda’s top leadership:

There are reports that the Pakistan military has carried out limited airstrikes at nine locations in north Waziristan.

The attacks by helicopter gunships were carried out on the basis of specific information provided by the United States that these areas houses terrorist training camps.

Some unconfirmed reports say that this could perhaps been some limited US participation as well.

From this reporting it seems the US provided intel on 9 training locations in Pakistan, which is more than coincidental that the number of locations attacked is also 9.

There have been indications of late that we may be zeroing in on al-Qaeda’s leaders as they try and salvage their movement in light of events in Iraq. As far back as October I had my suspicions this would be the summer where we found al-Qaeda’s leadership in the Waziristan area. Let’s hope this is the year we bring justice to those behind 9-11.