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           Military closes in on Mingora, pounds militant targets

Authorities say more than 1,000 militants and at least 46 soldiers have been killed. —AFP

PESHAWAR: Military jets and helicopters on Monday bombarded militant targets in Swat, where troops entered strategic towns in a pincer thrust towards the Taliban-held capital of the northwest valley.

The deadly offensive against Taliban fighters entered a fourth week on Monday with troops battling on three fronts in the districts of Lower Dir, Buner and Swat where more than 1.1 million people have been displaced.According to a DawnNews report, security forces killed 27 militants including three top militant commanders in on-going .Security forces are consolidating their control over Takhatband, Kohza Khela and Kanjo after heavy gun battle with militants, it adds.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani convened a cross-party conference in Islamabad, reiterating calls for the Taliban to disarm in what he has called a fight to ‘eliminate’ militants threatening the nation’s sovereignty.The military says its troops are closing in on Mingora, the capital of Swat, and have issued a map showing security forces in a pincer movement of troops pushing down from the north and up from the south.

Ground troops had moved into the Taliban-held towns of Kanju, two kilometres from Mingora, and Matta, further to the north, where officials said only that operations were ‘in progress.’‘Fighter jets and helicopter gunships targeted hideouts of Taliban militants in Peochar and Takhta Bund areas in Swat on Monday morning,’ one military official in the region told AFP.

He said helicopter gunships were also shelling suspected militant hideouts in the Fizaghat area, four kilometres northeast of Mingora, indicating that government troops were closing in on the Swat capital.Another security official confirmed shelling against suspected militant hideouts in Peochar and Takhta Bund, which he described as the main supply route for Taliban holed up in Mingora.

Authorities say more than 1,000 militants and at least 46 soldiers have been killed in a three-pronged onslaught launched in the northwest districts of Lower Dir on April 26, Buner on April 28 and Swat on May 8.Prominent defence analyst Talat Masood said it would be a long haul to clear and permanently secure all of Malakand, home to three million people and which the government put under sharia law earlier this year to quell the insurgency.

‘It will take a few months to clear up the whole of Malakand. Counter-insurgency is not easy but the army is very interested in doing the job as quickly as possible,’ he told AFP.‘It will take time to normalise the place, to install a police and civilian set-up after the operation. The army will have to ensure the insurgents are completely pushed back and eliminated,’ he added.

Dawn :Monday, 18 May, 2009