Pakistani military retakes largest town in Swat valley

The Pakistan military says it has regained control of the largest town in the Swat Valley from the Taliban.

Army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said today that all of Mingora was now under military control, though troops were meeting small pockets of resistance on the town’s outskirts.

The military launched a major offensive one month ago in the Swat Valley and neighbouring areas to oust Taliban militants who were extending their control over the north-western region, where they have established strongholds near the Afghanistan border.

The campaign is strongly backed by Washington and the government’s other Western allies, who see it as a test of the government’s resolve to fight extremism in Pakistan.

“As far as Mingora city, security forces have taken over,” Maj Gen Abbas said. “There are still pockets of resistance. They are on the periphery of Mingora city.”

Government troops have been advancing steadily into the Swat region, bombarding towns from the air and fighting house-to-house with Taliban gunmen.

The fighting has caused more than 2 million people to flee the region, raising fears of a humanitarian crisis. More than 160,000 people are taking refuge in sweltering refugee camps south of the battle zone, while the rest are staying with relatives or relying on goodwill from local residents.

Widespread domestic support for the campaign could sour if the government is perceived to have failed the refugees or if a high number of civilian casualties is revealed.

The Taliban has warned it will launch terrorist strikes in Pakistani cities in retaliation for the campaign, and claimed responsibility for a gun and suicide bomb attack on Wednesday in the eastern city of Lahore that killed at least 30 people. A day later, three suicide bombings killed at least 14 people in two cities in the northwest.

The military says more than 1,100 militants have been killed in the Swat offensive and tens of troops, but that civilian casualties have been minimal. The tally and the extent of destruction caused by the fighting is largely unknown because media have been restricted from travelling in the region.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani defended the decision to launch the offensive, saying it was necessary because the Taliban had challenged the authority of the government by advancing from its stronghold of Swat to the neighbouring district of Buner, just 60 from the capital, Islamabad.

“The very existence of Pakistan was at stake, we had to start the operation,” Mr Gilani told a group of workers at state-owned Pakistan Television.

He promised cash payments to people forced from their homes and a massive reconstruction effort.