Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Fresh clashes in Pakistan's Swat valley; dozens killed

Maybe Pakistan should rethink there backing off of the Taliban ?



MINGORA, Pakistan (reuters) - Pakistani troops killed 15 militants in fresh clashes in Swat, the army said on Tuesday, taking the death toll to 45 in five days after a lull in the campaign to clear the Taliban out of the northwestern valley.

Security forces also launched an operation to flush out militants in the northwestern tribal region of Khyber, bordering Afghanistan, a government official said.

The army went on the offensive in Swat in late April and says it has killed over 2,000 militants, and lost 312 soldiers in the fighting. Independent casualty estimates are unavailable.

Despite the Taliban's losses, the recent clashes and a suicide attack in Swat's main town of Mingora on Sunday showed they can still hit back.

"It was very precise and we managed to kill 15 militants," Lt. Col. Akhtar Abbas, a military spokesman in Swat, said of the attack launched on Monday evening.

The army had already killed at least 30 insurgents in encounters since Friday, while 12 police recruits were killed by a suicide bomber on Sunday.
....


No comments: