PESHAWAR (AFP/Reuters) - Suspected Taliban militants launched a rocket attack killing three soldiers and wounding four at a military camp in South Waziristan on Friday, officials said. Militants targeted Landi Noor army camp in Shakai area of South Waziristan, a Taliban and Al-Qaeda stronghold near the Afghan border where the military is said to be planning a ground offensive to flush out militants. The rocket strike left three soldiers dead and four wounded, a security official said, requesting anonymity. Before dawn, a drone crashed near Jandola town in South Waziristan. The crash was caused by a technical fault and no hostile fire was involved, a senior official said. Forces attacked the Taliban in their South Waziristan stronghold with aircraft and artillery on Friday a day after militants launched multiple attacks killing more than 30 people. The government says a ground offensive against the Taliban in their South Waziristan lair is imminent and the army has been stepping up its air and artillery attacks in recent days to soften up the militants defences. The militants have launched a string of brazen attacks in the past 11 days, attacking the United Nations, the army headquarters, police and general public, apparently trying to stave off the army assault. The government says the violence has only reinforced its determination to defeat its enemies. Aircraft and artillery struck militant positions in their strongholds of Ladha, Makeen and in the mountainous Shahoor region overnight, hours after killing 27 militants in the region in various strikes. We could see thick smoke and flames leaping into the sky from caves in the mountains after the bombing by jet fighters, said a resident near Shahoor who declined to be identified. Security officials said they had no information about casualties in the latest attacks. An army official in the region said some Taliban were trying to leave the area in disguise ahead of the offensive. They are now trying to run but we have tightened controls around their areas and are checking every person leaving, said the military official in Wana, the main town in South Waziristan, where the army has a base. About 28,000 troops are in place to take on an estimated 10,000 hard-core Taliban, army officials have said.