[NYTr] Pakistan Army Claims "Big Gains" in Swat Valley

Tue Nov 27 15:12:20 EST 2007

AFP - Nov 27, 2007
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071127/wl_sthasia_afp/pakistanunrestnorthwest_071127165047

Pakistan military reports big gains in Swat valley

by Saad Khan

Pakistan's military recaptured a strategic peak and a key town in an
intensifying offensive against pro-Taliban militants in the rugged
northwest Swat valley, officials said Tuesday.

The provincial government said security forces had secured more towns
and seized Najia Top, the highest peak in Swat's Kabal district which
has been a stronghold of hardline cleric Maulana Fazlullah.

Residents and state television said Fazlullah's pirate radio station,
from which he preaches holy war against the government, had been shut
down.

Officials suspect the clandestine FM radio -- which earned Fazlullah
the nickname Mullah Radio -- also operated from this area. Residents
said it had ceased broadcasting Monday.

Alpuri, the main town in Shangla district, was brought back under
control and troops were moving to secure the Shangla hills, which
overlook a key road to China, local government spokesman Amjad Iqbal
told reporters.

He said militant positions had been attacked by Cobra gunship
helicopters, and the rebels "are in a state of despair and trying to
flee the area."

Chief military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad said 45 militants
had been killed in the past two days of clashes alone.

Updating an earlier official toll, he said 15 soldiers and 20 civilians
had also died since the beginning of last week, with 40 soldiers
wounded.

"Troops took control of mountains. The militants had bunkers there,
they have been evacuated," he said on private Dawn television.

"The troops are consolidating their positions and are trying to make
sure the militants do not return. The operation will continue in other
areas where militants are hiding out."

Arshad estimated the insurgents' strength in the area at around 1,000
and said they were moving about in groups of a few hundred.

The military said communications intercepts revealed militant leaders
were fleeing and their fighters were disorganised, demoralised and
running out of food and ammunition.

The local government has now set up its own FM radio station
broadcasting programmes in the scenic valley, one of Pakistan's top
tourist draws.

President Pervez Musharraf, who cited the growing militancy as one of
the reasons for declaring emergency rule on November 3, ordered the
army to purge the area of rebels after they had made sweeping gains
since July.

Officials said troops had seized about half a dozen towns in the past
few days which had been under effective militant rule, first securing
surrounding hilltops and then establishing control of the roads.

Militants were reported earlier to be resisting in the Matta, Charbagh
and Khawaza Khela areas, but residents said later they had disappeared,
abandoning bunkers stacked with weapons.

Clashes since the beginning of last week have left more than 250
militants dead, according to army figures earlier.

Officials Monday announced the death of three rebel commanders,
including Khan Khatab, a top Fazlullah lieutenant who ran militant
operations in Matta and Kabal, scenes of some of the fiercest fighting.

In Islamabad, interior ministry spokesman Javed Cheema said local
people were turning against the militants and some had offered to join
the security forces in operations.

The fighting has driven thousands of people from their homes.

Iqbal said Monday that at least 2,400 residents had been accommodated
in a number of government-run schools in the area, and the army has
also set up a relief camp in the town of Risalpur.

Other residents used a four-hour break Tuesday in a curfew imposed at
the weekend to slip away to safer places.

Bazaars, schools and banks have remained closed since last week, and
some residents are reporting food shortages.