Taliban flee as villagers rise up against them

Thousands of angry villagers who have laid siege to a group of Taliban gunmen in Pakistan were today backed up by army helicopter gunships.

The citizens’ militia sprang up over the weekend to avenge a suicide bombing at a mosque in Upper Dir district and appeared unwilling to stop chasing the Islamist fighters amid rising anti-Taliban sentiment in much of Pakistan.

The tribesmen’s numbers have steadily risen to more than 2,000, with residents of two villages and a town joining them today.

“People back in the villages, especially children, are fetching them food and other supplies. They are doing it because they think the fighters are fighting for their sake, they think it is their common war,” a police spokesman said.

He confirmed reports that helicopter gunships struck two villages, Shatkas and Ghazi Gay, where the militants have strongholds. Some of the Taliban were blocked today when they tried to get away to nearby Malik Bai village, which the tribesmen also encircled.

The growing pressure on militants who have held sway in parts of Pakistan’s north-west comes as the army bears down on their former sanctuary in the Swat Valley. Talk has also turned to the possibility of another operation against al Qaida and the Taliban in the nearby tribal belt along the country’s border with Afghanistan.

Upper Dir district police chief Ejaz Ahmad said 200 Taliban, including foreigners, were putting up tough resistance, with sporadic fighting continuing.

“Reports we are getting say that the foreigners among them are around 20 to 25. Most of them are Afghans, but some of them are Central Asians and Arabs too,” Ahmad said.

Ahmad said the militia was foiling the fighters’ efforts to flee.

“Villagers have encircled them completely, and they cannot run away,” he said.

Asked how long the fight might go on, the police chief said, “The militants are well-entrenched in their strongholds. The area is large and consists of tough terrain, which also has thick forests. I cannot say when, but it will take time to expel or kill all the militants completely.”

The Taliban carried out Friday’s mosque bombing that killed 33 in the Upper Dir town of Haya Gai because they were angry that local tribesmen had resisted their moving into the area, where minor clashes between the two sides occurred for months.

At least 14 insurgents have died in the fighting since Saturday.

The military said that 27 militants were killed and 22 were taken into custody across the region, including Swat, in the past 24 hours, with one soldier killed in an attack on a checkpoint and nine wounded.

The army’s chief spokesman yesterday urged civilians to consider the kind of rule the Taliban was trying to impose – they stand accused of whippings and beheadings in the name of Islamic law in Swat – and join the fight against them.

“Citizens should ponder upon the way of life they are introducing, if that is acceptable to us,” he said. “If not, they have to raise a voice against them, they have to rise against them.”