Pakistani Planes Bomb Taleban In Swat Valley
May 8, 2009 4 Comments ›› Erik Wong
Pakistani aircraft bombed Taleban positions in the Swat Valley today, hours after the Prime Minister, Yusuf Raza Gilani, ordered the military to “eliminate militants and terrorists.”
Helicopter gunships, fighters and troops were all involved in operations in Swat, and up to 12 militants were killed after as many as 55 were killed the previous day, Major Nasir Khan, a military spokesman in Swat, said by telephone.
Mr Gilani said in a televised address late on Thursday that militants were trying to hold the country hostage at gunpoint.
“In order to restore honour and dignity of our homeland and to protect the people, the armed forces have been called in to eliminate the militants and terrorists,” he said, setting the stage for a major offensive against Taleban fighters battling security forces in Swat.
The struggle in the northwestern valley 80 miles (130km) from Islamabad has become a test of Pakistan’s resolve to fight a growing Taleban insurgency that has alarmed the United States.
President Ali Zardari, in talks in Washington this week, assured President Obama of Islamabad’s commitment to defeating al-Qaeda and its allies.
Pakistan efforts against militants sheltering near the border with Afghanistan are seen as vital to efforts to defeat the insurgency in that country, while increased problems with militants in areas closer to Islamabad, such as Swat, raised concern about the stability of nuclear-armed Pakistan.
Major Khan said: “Our gunship helicopters today targeted and destroyed two militant hideouts in Kabal and we have confirmed reports that 10 to 12 militants have been killed,” referring to a militant stronghold 10 miles northwest of Swat’s main town of Mingora.
He said there was also ground action accompanied by air strikes in other parts of the valley, and an important Taleban commander had been killed the previous day.
Tens of thousands of civilians have fled the fighting this week. With hundreds of thousands already displaced by earlier battles between the government and Islamist militants, aid groups said the new exodus was intensifying a humanitarian crisis.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees expressed his deep concern about the safety of people displaced by the fighting while the International Committee of the Red Cross said a humanitarian crisis was intensifying.
Mr Gilan did not announce the launching of a specific offensive but said the government would not bow before terrorists and would force them to lay down their arms.
On Wednesday, soldiers launched assaults in the outskirts of Mingora, where the Taleban occupied important buildings.
