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Anti-Taliban offensive could last months: ISPR
Wednesday, 03 Jun, 2009 | 01:52 PM PST |
MINGORA: The military offensive to expel the Taliban from Pakistan's Swat Valley could take another two months to complete, and troops may have to stay for a year to prevent militants from retaking control, military commanders said Wednesday.
The armed forces have secured control over several key towns during the month-old campaign in the northwestern region, but the fighting has uprooted some 2.4 million people from their homes.
Army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told reporters on a military-organised tour of Mingora town that it could take another two months of fighting to root the militants from all of their hideouts in Swat and surrounding areas.
He cautioned, though, that the two month timetable was a rough estimate.
A defence ministry official said Sunday the militants were only days away from being defeated across three northwest districts, including Swat, but the army had distanced itself from those comments, saying there was no timeframe.
The government has said that more than 1,300 militants and around 85 soldiers have died since the military launched a major air and ground assault in late April.
Earlier, Major General Ijaz Awan, a senior commander in the eight-day battle for Mingora, said the military is gearing up for a fight in nearby Kabal town where top Taliban leaders are suspected of being holed up.
We have bottled them up very well, hopefully this will be a decisive battle here in Kabal, said Awan. Their deaths are vital to killing their myth.
The battle for Swat was launched in late April after the militants abandoned a peace deal with the government that gave them control of the region.
During Wednesday's military tour through parts of Mingora, an AP reporter saw soldiers stationed on streets throughout the town but there was little sign of civilian life among the 40,000 residents remaining in the city.
At a crossroads dubbed bloody intersection by locals because the Taliban would leave bloodied bodies of victims there as warning to others, there were signs of a tough battle. Chunks of one multi-story building were blown away, and security gates of at least one storefront were torn off. Broken glass and bricks lay all around.
Awan said the military hoped about 2,500 police would return to Mingora by June's end to take over security, but the army would probably have to stay in the region for at least another year to fully secure it.
Up to 2.4 million people have fled their homes since the offensive began in the districts of Lower Dir on April 26, Buner on April 28 and Swat on May 8.
Power, water and gas remain cut in Mingora, the largest in the Swat region, and food is short. Officials are discouraging refugees from returning home yet.
The displaced can be brought back tomorrow, Awan said.
Even if the guns have fallen silent in the city, which the military declared Saturday had returned to government control, residents who remain have told AFP there is no electricity, gas and running water in the town.
By June 17, these services will be put right. Then the gradual, systematic return of IDPs (internally displaced persons) will begin, Awan told reporters. AFP/AP