Rows of unused ammunition and confiscated weapons line the floor of a former militant compound in North Waziristan.

The region has been the target of a months long anti-Taliban operation by the Pakistani army and has resulted in the deaths of some 1200 suspected militants, and the arrest of hundreds more.

The army says its gains have put a serious damper on the militants ability to carry out attacks.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) MAJOR-GENERAL ZAFARULLAH KHAN, OFFICER COMMANDING (GOC), NORTH WAZIRISTAN, SAYING:

"We have been able to defuse 4,000 IEDs so far. They have planted it in the houses, they have planted it in the streets, they've planted it even in the trees. So that is the scale and the magnitude of the entire operation, which of course pose considerable challenges to the armed forces or the ground forces that get applied here."

Here a room in one of the compounds that was likely used to torture prisoners... and another where Taliban spokesmen recorded vi