PESHAWAR – Pakistani soldiers are closing in on the main town in the Taliban bastion of Swat, the army said on Saturday, in an offensive that has driven more than a million people from their homes.
The army launched the offensive more than a week ago to stop the spread of Taliban influence after the collapse of a peace pact the United States had criticised as tantamount to ‘abdicating’ to the militants.
Militant violence in nuclear-armed Pakistan has surged over the past two years, raising fears for its stability and alarming the United States, which needs Pakistani action to help defeat al Qaeda and bring stability to neighbouring Afghanistan.
Earlier, a car packed with mortar bombs blew up in the city of Peshawar, killing 11 people. A suspected US drone aircraft fired missiles at militants in another region near the Afghan border, killing 28 of them, government officials said.
The offensive in the one-time tourist valley of Swat, northwest of Islamabad, has forced at least 1.17 million people from their homes, the UN refugee agency said, adding the world needed to respond ‘massively.’
A military spokesman said clashes had erupted in different parts of Swat and 47 militants had been killed in the past 24 hours. That would take the toll in the offensive to about 970 militants and 48 soldiers, according to the military.
Reporters have left Swat and there was no independent confirmation of the casualties. About 15 000 members of the security forces face about 5 000 militants, the military says.
‘The security forces are closing in from different directions and have been able to inflict many more casualties,’ military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas told a briefing.
‘Security forces are getting close to Mingora city. The aim is to isolate and block the movement of fleeing terrorists.’
The Taliban hold Mingora, Swat’s main town, and many civilians are believed to be still there.
Most political parties and members of the public support the offensive, despite scepticism about an alliance with the United States in its campaign against militancy.
But opposition will grow if many civilians are killed or if the displaced are seen to be enduring undue hardship.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said the flood of people from Swat this month was one of the most dramatic displacement crises in the world in recent times.
– Nampa-Reuters
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