MARDAN, Pakistan: Pakistani warplanes pounded Taleban hide-outs yesterday, pressing an onslaught that officials say has killed more than 700 insurgents and sent more than 360,000 people fleeing in just over a week.
Ground forces shelled strongholds in the northwestern Swat Valley, where around 4,000 Taleban are believed to be battling for control of the former ski resort, once popular with Westerners but now devastated by violence.
Interior Minister Rahman Malik said more than 700 militants had been killed in the region as the military announced yesterday that 52 “miscreants” died in exchanges of fire over the last 24 hours in Swat.
Such official tolls — released as daily updates that add up to 775 dead militants in the last 15 days — have been unverifiable and authorities have not released any information on civilian casualties. The military has reported 24 soldiers dead, including three killed in Swat over the last 24 hours to yesterday.
In one camp in the town of Mardan, just south of the battle zone in a barren field, hundreds of displaced people lined up for hours to register with the UN to get tents, food and medical treatment. A police official in Mingora said jets bombed the Matta area of Swat yesterday 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 Taleban on Sunday left six militants dead. He requested anonymity because of security reasons.
The United Nations said 360,600 refugees had fled Swat and neighboring Dir and Buner districts since operations began last week. That number is on top of some 500,000 people displaced by past offensives — a major humanitarian challenge for the weak government that could test public support for the offensive. Most of the refugees are staying with friends and relatives or in rented accommodation.
Islamabad’s tough military response has drawn praise from the US, which wants Al-Qaeda and Taleban militants rooted out from havens where they can plan attacks on American and NATO forces in Afghanistan as well as destabilize nuclear-armed Pakistan.
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 100 kilometers from Islamabad.
Addressing Parliament, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said the army had cleared mines planted by insurgents in the region’s main town, Mingora. Malik’s casualty number — which exceeds those 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.
Elsewhere in Pakistan’s northwest yesterday, a suicide bomber blew up his vehicle at a checkpoint, killing eight civilians and two members of the Frontier Constabulary security force, police said. The bombing occurred between the main northwest city of Peshawar and the town of Darra Adam Khel, police official Arif Khan said.
