Pakistan says its security forces have killed up to 80 militants in ongoing anti-insurgency operations in the country's northwest.
Pakistani security forces are engaged in a weeklong anti-Taliban operation in the northwestern district of Buner, just 100-kilometers from Islamabad. Security forces said they have killed more than 200 fighters.
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Pakistani army soldiers on their way to Swat Valley where government troops are fighting the Taliban, 06 May 2009 |
Fighting has also picked up in the troubled Swat valley a day after insurgents seized several government buildings and were reported to have planted landmines along key routes. Military officials said helicopters targeting suspected Taliban hideouts killed as many as 50 fighters.
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Richard Holbrooke, (File) |
"When Swat fell and the deal was made, the concern that was expressed was not initially in the United States, it was among the people of Peshawar, Lahore and Islamabad who understandably felt threatened," he said.
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Pakistanis fleeing troubled Swat Valley wait for food in a camp set up in Mardan near Peshawar, 06 May 6 2009 |
"All this space [reference to the peace deal], which was given at the cost of military's applying maximum constraint and withdrawing back in the camps, the public opinion at the national level went against the militants because they saw the real face of these militants and the intentions of the militants. So the people have now rallied around a point where they feel that it is now time to stop these militants and take care of this militancy," said Abbas.