Pakistan: '1,000 Taliban dead'

Pakistani security forces fought Taliban militants on the outskirts of the main city in the north-west’s Swat Valley and entered two other Taliban-held towns there, the army said today, foreshadowing what could become bloody urban battles.

A top government official said the offensive near Afghanistan had already killed more than 1,000 Taliban fighters, while a group of pro-government religious leaders endorsed the operation but condemned US missile strikes in the north-west.