ISLAMABAD: At least 48 suspected militants and one soldier were killed in fresh clashes in Pakistan’s Swat Valley, the military said yesterday as it escalated its offensive against insurgents in the one-time tourist haven.
Speaking to Arab News, a local journalist, Shaukat Khan, said that the toll was likely to go up as authorities recovered 10 more bodies yesterday. Khan claimed over 40 people were killed in aerial bombardment on Chaharbagh village of the valley.
Swat lies outside the tribal regions along the Afghan border where the Taleban and Al-Qaeda have traditionally had their strongholds. The military recently vowed to reinvigorate its efforts in Swat, where Taleban fighters have set up their own courts, destroyed scores of girls’ schools and reportedly driven out hundreds of thousands of residents. The latest clashes broke out in several parts of the valley over 24 hours, according to a military statement that detailed the casualties. It said troops “consolidated their hold” over Charbagh, an area considered a militant stronghold.
Separately, militants fatally shot a police constable they had abducted in Rahimabad, a city in the Swat Valley, the statement said. Swat’s police forces have been decimated by desertions and militant killings over the past 18 months, underscoring the power vacuum in a region that — unlike the tribal areas — is supposed to be under full government control.
Troops began the new phase of operation in the valley earlier this week in the wake of deteriorating security situation.
Pakistan’s Chief of the Army Staff Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani visited Swat on Wednesday and said the security forces had both the will and resolve to establish the government’s writ in the region.
“No amount of sacrifice will deter us to do our duty,” Kayani told the troops.
Swat is less than 160 km from Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, and there are fears that the militancy could spread beyond the valley to other parts of the country.
Meanwhile, a police official said a grenade attack killed one person and wounded five others in southwestern Pakistan.
The attackers - two motorcyclists - lobbed a hand grenade at a police patrol in Balochistan province Saturday night, but hit bystanders instead, Ghulam Ali Lashari said. No one claimed responsibility for the attack in Khuzdar district, about 300 km south of Quetta.
