Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi says the country's military is set to uproot the militants based in South Waziristan.

"The operation so far has been very successful. The resistance that we were expecting initially did not come with the same stiffness as we expected," Qureshi told the Reuters news agency on the sidelines of a summit in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday.

Nearly 30,000 Pakistani army soldiers have been deployed to fight against the militants based in the northwestern tribal area that borders Afghanistan.

Pakistani troops killed at least nine militants based in the northwestern tribal areas over the past 24 hours, a Press TV correspondent reported.

In addition, military sources say two Pakistani soldiers lost their lives in the intense fighting.

Over 300 militants and over 30 Pakistani soldiers have been killed since the operation was launched in the mountainous terrain on October 17.

JR/HGL