May 1st, 2009
Pakistani troops killed up to 60 militants as a punishing ground and air offensive against Taliban fighters in the country's northwest ran into fierce resistance on Friday, the military said.
The army pounded Taliban positions for a sixth day since launching its latest assault under US pressure after the Islamist hardliners advanced to within 100 kilometres (60 miles) of the capital Islamabad.
As the fighting raged, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates appealed to Congress to free up money for military aid to Pakistan, which is central to Washington's strategy for stopping the insurgency in neighbouring Afghanistan.
Between 55 to 60 militants were killed in the last 24 hours in the district of Buner, where the "operation is continuing successfully," military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told a briefing update at army headquarters.
Based on combined tolls released by the military, nearly 200 militants have been killed in Operation Black Thunder since tanks, fighter jets and helicopter gunships swung into action in Buner and neighbouring Lower Dir.
The deaths could not be independently confirmed.
The Pakistan government ceded control of the nearby Swat valley in February, signing a deal to allow religious hardliners to enforce Islamic law in the region in order to end a bloody two-year rebellion led by a radical cleric.
But instead of disarming as required under the deal, the Taliban instead pushed further south towards Islamabad, taking over large swathes of Lower Dir and Buner -- and prompting the latest army offensive.
People living in Buner said Friday that the fighting was heavy.
"I can't sleep in my bedroom because my house keeps rattling all night due to heavy shelling," said 60-year-old Habibulah Khan, who runs a pharmacy in Nawagai, where he said all but four villagers had fled.
Hazrat Khan, 26, a teacher in Sultanwas, said he, his wife and four children had been holed up at home for four days, with food running low.
"I can see through chinks in the door that Taliban are everywhere out there. I can't move because of the curfew and shelling. I appeal to the authorities to evacuate us," he said.
Early Friday, more than 50 armed Taliban stormed a local paramilitary headquarters in Upper Dir -- a district so far shielded from the military offensive -- and snatched 10 security forces personnel, officials said.
The 10 were released unharmed later in the day.
Taliban fighters have kidnapped scores of security personnel in their increasingly brazen insurgency inside Pakistan, where US counter-terrorism experts say nearly 2,300 people were killed in militant attacks last year.
Security officials said Pakistani artillery also targeted hideouts in Maidan and Chakdara villages in Lower Dir late Thursday, although the army had said the battle in that district had been won.
Provincial authorities said Friday they had rejected a request from the pro-Taliban cleric who negotiated the February deal to halt the offensive after talks between the two camps resumed.
Cleric Sufi Mohammad, who does not speak for the Taliban fighters, suspended talks with the local government on Monday over the new Pakistan offensive.
"The operation will be halted when the armed people lay down their weapons because the government has to establish its writ at any cost," said information minister of North West Frontier Province, Mian Iftikhar Hussain.
The militant campaign has proved to be a serious challenge for the government of President Asif Ali Zardari, who pledged this week not to let the country's nuclear weapons arsenal fall into the hands of militants.
US President Barack Obama said on Wednesday he was "gravely concerned" about the Taliban's advances in Pakistan.
Dozens of missile strikes from suspected unmanned US planes have targeted militant positions in Pakistan's northwest along the border with Afghanistan, in attacks Pakistan publicly says are a violation of its sovereignty.
But the United States says Al-Qaeda, Taliban and other militants who have found a relative safe haven in Pakistan border areas outside government control are the biggest single terror threat to the West.
Gates, the US defence secretary, said Washington would start running out of money to give Pakistan for military assistance in mid-May unless Congress quickly approved releasing more aid.
Source: France 24
