ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s military yesterday said it has taken complete control of Swat’s main town of Mingora after tough resistance by militants who used civilian houses as their fortifications and local residents as human shields.
Chief military spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said government troops were now pursuing the militants into Kalam Walnut Heights after clearing the last pockets of resistance in Mingora.
He said militants had dug themselves into bunkers built into hotels and government buildings in Mingora and initially offered stiff resistance as troops first closed roads leading to the town and then began moving in earlier this week.
Abbas said 1,217 militants were killed in the operation, while 79, including foreign nationals, apprehended. He said 81 soldiers died and 250 were injured. He did not give a figure for civilian casualties. Abbas said an unknown number of fighters were able to escape Mingora despite the military having it surrounded, raising the prospect that they could return to fight later. The militants have carried out a series of bomb and gun attacks in Pakistani cities during the last few days, in a bid to take the heat off their comrades retreating in Swat.
The military launched a major offensive about a month ago in the Swat Valley and neighboring areas to oust Taleban militants who had been extending their control over the northwestern region near the border with Afghanistan.
US and other officials say the lawless border region is being used by Al-Qaeda and the Taleban as a base to plan and launch attacks on Western forces in Afghanistan, and see the offensive as a test of Pakistan’s resolve to fight extremism on its soil.
Government troops had been advancing steadily into the Swat region for about a month, bombarding towns from the air and fighting house-to-house with Taleban gunmen in some places. “When they realized that if they did not leave these areas the noose would tighten around them and they would not find a way to leave ... they decided to end the fight and leave,” Abbas said.
Aid was being distributed to some of the estimated 20,000 who were trapped in Mingora, and water and gas supplies were being restored. But Abbas said it would be at least two weeks before power is switched back on, and refugees were not yet being encouraged to start returning to their homes. He said emergency medical teams had arrived in Mingora and were trying to reopen the main hospital.
Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said the number of people uprooted from their homes by the fighting had reached “around 3 million.”
— With input from agencies
