Pakistan army takes key Taliban strongholds

PAKISTANI troops battling the Taliban have captured several points in the Swat Valley’s main town, the army said yesterday, including a spot nicknamed “bloody intersection” because militants routinely dumped the mutilated bodies of their victims there.

Elsewhere in the northwest helicopter gunships pounded alleged militant hide-outs in a tribal region, killing at least 18 people, while police said they had captured an important militant commander and six other Taliban fighters.

Al-Qaida and Taliban fighters have long had hide-outs in the north-west. The US has pushed Pakistan to use force to root out the insurgents, who are often involved in attacks on US troops across the border in Afghanistan. The operation in Swat has strong support from Washington, and retaking Mingora, the valley’s main commercial hub and urban centre, is considered critical to its success.