InshAllah army will finish them up soon. I hope they get every last one these rats.
DAWN.COM | Provinces | Up to 700 militants killed in Swat offensive
Up to 700 militants killed in Swat offensive
Monday, 11 May, 2009 | 11:30 AM PST |
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‘The operation will continue until the last Talib…they are on the run,’ Interior Minister Rehman Malik said. — AFP
MARDAN: Fighter jets bombed suspected militant positions in Swat, 80 miles northwest of Islamabad, on Monday, pressing ahead with a fierce offensive the government claimed had killed 700 insurgents and had the Taliban on the run.
The United Nations said 360,600 refugees had fled Swat and neighboring Dir and Buner districts since operations began last week. That figure is on top of some 500,000 people registered as displaced due to past offensives.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik said 700 militants had been killed there in the last four days.
‘The operation will continue until the last Talib,’ Malik said in Islamabad. ‘We haven’t given them a chance. They are on the run. They were not expecting such an offensive.’
That figure – which exceeds that given by the military on Sunday by at least 200 – and his claims of success could not be independently verified. The military is restricting access to the battlefields and many local journalists have also left. The government has not given figures for civilian casualties, but accounts from refugees suggest they are significant.
Jawad Khan, a university student who lives in the Kabal area of Swat, said jets bombed the nearby Dhada Hara village Monday morning.
‘I saw smoke and dust rising from the village,’ Khan said, adding he didn’t know about casualties because of curfew restrictions, which have been enforced again.
A police official said jets bombed the Matta area of Swat on Monday as well.
The official said he was confined to his station but could see a decapitated body lying outside along a road where a clash between military forces and the Taliban on Sunday left six militants dead. He requested anonymity.
He also said that information he had received indicated the militants retained control of Swat’s main town, Mingora.
The military launched the offensive after the insurgents in Swat used a peace deal to impose their reign in other neighboring areas, including a stretch just 60 miles from Islamabad.
The army says 12,000 to 15,000 troops in Swat face 4,000 to 5,000 militants, including small numbers of foreigners and hardened fighters from the South Waziristan tribal region.
Malik said the government was providing sufficient funds to help the displaced Pakistanis, and brushed aside fears that militants would try to infiltrate relief camps.
‘This fear is baseless that they are melting down among the displaced people because we are screening the displaced people,’ he said. ‘We are registering them with documents, checking each and every individual.’
Opposition leader and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif visited a camp for the displaced on Monday and said it was everybody’s responsibility to help.
‘It’s a very unfortunate situation,’ Sharif told reporters.
‘The nation in no way approves the activities of those elements who are responsible for the displacement and migration of these people,’ he said.
On Sunday, suspected militant hideouts were attacked in Kanju, Mingora, Venaibaba, Namal, Qambar, Peochar, Fizagath, Tiligram and Chamtalai areas and 50 to 60 militants were killed.
Security forces urged citizens to remain vigilant and said that the terrorists had planted explosive devices in various areas of Mingora and Swat to put the blame of civilian deaths on security forces.
There are reports that militants destroyed two schools one in Barikot and the other in Maniar.
Terrorist activities continued in Swat where Zahid Khan, Imam of a mosque at Nishtar Chowk was killed.
Military authorities said they had secured a large area in Shangla up to Biladram and advancing troops detected IEDs on the Chamtalai bridge where an intense exchange of fire took place.
In Shangla, security forces resumed operation on Sunday from the important heights of 2,245 and 2,266 which had been captured on Saturday and secured the area up to Shalwal Kandao. One soldier died during the clashes.
Troops found a number of bodies of militants and weapons left by them near Ramotai Loe Sar.
One soldier who was injured on May 8, died on Sunday during evacuation.
The ISPR said a training camp of militants in Banai Baba was destroyed and 140 to 150 militants were killed. Troops secured the Shangla Top.
The Shangla DCO confirmed that 140 to 150 terrorists had been killed.
In Dir, troops secured the area from Kala Dag to Haya Sarai and during a clash with militants at Musa Jan and Sarai Kot on Sunday, five militants were killed and one soldier was injured.
In a separate incident, militants kidnapped a reporter of a private TV channel from Chakdara.
Military authorities said ground forces continued to consolidate positions on Gulabad heights and the area between Chakdara Bridge at Landakai had been secured by ground forces. Troops detected and defused three IEDs.
The militants suffered heavy casualties when helicopters attacked their hideouts in Barwada Char, destroying six bunkers and two ammunition dumps.
Troops secured the ridges around Sultanwas and the militants there were surrounded, the ISPR claimed.
The militants resumed their activities in South Waziristan and on Saturday night attacked a security forces convoy in Spin area South of Tanai.
During the ensuing clash 18 militants and an officer, Capt Muneeb, were killed and two soldiers were injured.
Later, the militants fled the area leaving behind bodies of their men. One injured militant was arrested.
