Pakistani airstrikes kill dozens of Taliban fighters

PAKISTANI airstrikes killed dozens of Taliban fighters in a fierce struggle to drive them from a district near the capital, while the militants took over police stations and kidnapped more than 50 security forces, the army said.

One member of the security forces also died in the fighting, the top military spokesman said.

Pakistan is acting under intense US pressure to take a tougher line against Islamic militants expanding from strongholds along the Afghan border, where al-Qaida leaders including Osama bin Laden may also be hiding.

In recent days, government forces have begun trying to force the Taliban back into the Swat Valley, from where they had pushed out in the direction of an increasingly nervy Islamabad under the cover of a controversial peace process.

Maj-Gen Athar Abbas said helicopters inserted commandos into the main town in Buner, a once-peaceful farming region in the north-west, yesterday just as ground troops fought their way in from three directions.

Militants were putting up stiff resistance and detonated three roadside bombs near the Ambela Pass, a key gateway to the mountainous region.

Three more troops were injured, he said.

After warplanes carried out airstrikes late on Tuesday, attack helicopters engaged “miscreants” and killed more than 50, Abbas said at a news conference in Rawalpindi, a garrison city south of Islamabad.

Rather than fleeing, militants seized three police stations in the north of Buner and kidnapped 70 police and paramilitary troops, he said.

Eighteen of the troops were “recovered” by last night, he said giving few other details.

Security forces prevented some reporters from entering the area and telephone services were interrupted, making it hard to verify the army’s account of the fighting.

The Taliban advance into Buner brought them to within 100km of the capital, Islamabad, raising concern about the stability of the nuclear-armed country. The army also says troops have killed scores of militants in recent fighting in Lower Dir, another area neighbouring Swat.

Both lie within Malakand, the region covered by the government’s much-criticised peace deal. Officials agreed to impose Islamic law in return for peace in a region devastated by two years of bloody fighting.

Pakistani officials said the Islamic law concession robbed the militants of any justification for retaining their arms. They insist they will use force against militants who defy the government.

But officials in Washington, which is propping up Pakistan’s army and government with billions of dollars and worrying about the rising insurgency in neighbouring Afghanistan, have slammed the peace process as a surrender and welcomed the resumption of military action.

The Pakistani offensives are “exactly the appropriate response” to the Taliban advance, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said.