Pakistan's army says its forces have killed more than 140 Taliban
militants during the last 24 hours in Swat valley. Several troops have
also been reported killed. Thousands of people continue to flee the
clashes, joining hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis already displaced
by fighting in the violent northwest.
Nearly two weeks after
Pakistani security forces began attacking Taliban positions in the
northwest Malakand region, the army says troops are now focusing on the
estimated 4,000 core fighters entrenched in the militant stronghold
Swat valley.
Operations target militant training camps
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Major General Athar Abbas (File photo) |
Army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas says
recent operations have targeted militant training camps and ammunition
dumps, killing more than 100 Taliban fighters, including some top
commanders.
"On the directive of the government, the army is
now in full scale operation to eliminate, militants, miscreants and
anti-state elements from Swat," Abbas said. "They are on the run and
trying to block the exodus of civilians from the area."
Aid workers concerned about Swat residents
Aid
workers have expressed concern that Swat residents and other civilians
fleeing ongoing operations in nearby Buner and Dir districts have been
unable to escape the heavy fighting.
Pakistan's military says
about 64,000 people have registered at more than 10 formal camps and
hospitals set up for the fleeing civilians. But the United Nations
refugee agency said Friday that figure misses the tens of thousands of
people who stay with friends and relatives. U.N. officials estimated up
to 200,000 people may have already fled the fighting and perhaps
300,000 more could leave in the coming days. They will join an
estimated half million people who fled their homes in the past year and
still have not returned.
U.N. workers say they are looking for new sites to build camps for the many more expected arrivals.
PM calls on nation to unite against Taliban
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Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in televised address, 7 May 2009 (Pakistan government photo) |
During
a late-night televised speech Thursday, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza
Gilani called on the nation to unite against the Taliban, pledging that
the military will not quit until the Swat militants are eliminated from
the region. The announcement came as President Asif Zardari met with
top U.S. officials in Washington to discuss plans for billions of
dollars in aid aimed at countering the Taliban.
Two previous
military offensives in the last two years against the Swat Taliban
failed to push them from the valley, and after each time the militants
returned even stronger. General Abbas says that will not happen again.
"For
sure the military will not only clear and secure the area, but ensure
unless and until the area is taken over completely by the civil
administration, and the writ of the government is restored and peace
and normalcy return to the area, the military will remain in the area,"
he said.
The army says up to 15,000 troops in Swat are moving
slowly to minimize the collateral damage that helped doom previous
operations. But while the military releases daily updates for soldier
and Taliban casualties, it has not released such figures for civilians.
General Abbas also says the military has forces deployed throughout the
northwest in case there is a backlash against the offensive.