ISLAMABAD: Pakistani soldiers have captured the main Taleban stronghold in a district 100 km from the capital in heavy fighting in which 80 militants were killed, the military said yesterday.
Fighting in the Swat Valley and the neighboring districts of Buner and Dir has forced about 1.5 million people from their homes in addition to about 550,000 people displaced earlier.
The United States has offered Pakistan $110 million to help the displaced and said it was trying to redress 30 years of “incoherent” US policy toward the nuclear-armed country.
The military said security forces had captured the village of Sultanwas in Buner district, where the Taleban had built a stronghold complete with concrete bunkers. “Security forces cleared Sultanwas last night after intense clashes. Reportedly 80 militant terrorists were killed,” military spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas told a briefing.
Pakistan Army also took complete control of Mata town of Swat after fierce street fighting with militants. Abbas said “we have trapped militants in some sectors and asked them to surrender of face death.”
Civilians trapped by fighting in northwest Pakistan said yesterday they were surviving on bread and water as a government offensive against the Taleban closes roads and cuts off food supplies. What little food is available is becoming increasingly expensive, they told AFP, adding to concerns about the humanitarian situation in a troubled region where hospitals have shut their doors and electricity is erratic at best.
Pakistan’s military has called breaks in the fighting and lifted curfews to allow people to flee, but many have been unable to escape during the respites, with roads quickly barricaded again. Hospitals have shut their doors, electricity is erratic, and the bodies of the dead litter the streets in some cut-off areas, those fleeing the fighting have said, while Taleban fighters remain on the streets in many areas.
