recently told CNN that this time a peace deal is not an option . `` Certainly there is no scope of a peace deal , '' Abbas told CNN . `` It is a fight to the finish . '' The military began its ground offensive in South Waziristan three weeks ago , however the region has been affected by a broader anti-Taliban offensive that has uprooted more than 180,000 people this year , according to the United Nations . Many of those people -- more than 94,000 -- have fled South Waziristan since June , the U.N. said last week . In recent weeks , Pakistan has been relentlessly rocked by a wave of attacks as Islamic militants retaliate against the military campaign . On Monday , the Pakistani cities of Lahore and Rawalpindi were hit by separate suicide bombings . A suicide attacker believed to be on a motorcycle targeted people outside a bank in Rawalpindi who were lined up to pick up their monthly checks , police said . That attack killed 30 people , police said on Tuesday . The attack happened in the Cannt area of Rawalpindi , close to Pakistan 's military headquarters where
Islamabad , Pakistan -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Pakistan 's military said Tuesday that its forces have taken over a Taliban stronghold during the ongoing ground offensive in the tribal region of South Waziristan . Pakistani security forces have secured Sararogha and have started to clear the town of weapons and ammunition , the military said . It comes a day after its forces gained control of Kaniguram , another key Taliban stronghold , which the military says its forces have now completely secured . According to the military , 21 militants and one Pakistani soldier died in the past 24 hours of fighting -- most of them in the raid on Sararogha . The military is trying to rout Taliban insurgents operating along the Pakistan-Afghan border . The restive and largely ungoverned region of South Waziristan is the headquarters of the Pakistani Taliban . Pakistan 's military suspects its leader , Hakimullah Mehsud , is still in the region backed by up to 8,000 militant fighters . Pakistan 's army has launched three similar offensives in Kaniguram and Sararogha since 2004 without success , sometimes agreeing to peace deals that eventually fall apart . Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas