From Air and Ground, Pakistan Strikes Back at Taliban
Sunday, May 10, 2009
The New York Times
By ANDREA KANNAPELL
Published: May 9, 2009
The Pakistani military pressed its multipronged assault on Taliban-held districts northwest of the capital, Islamabad, on Saturday, claiming significant gains but also blaming militants for endangering noncombatants by firing indiscriminately and basing themselves in civilian homes.
As terrified people continued to flee the fighting, the outskirts of the conflict areas are facing a critical need for more shelter and supplies. The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has registered more than 120,000 residents displaced from the three contested districts — Swat, Buner and Dir — and surrounding areas, and warns that several hundred thousand more are likely to leave as well. For the moment, most people are able to find their own shelter, renting space or moving in with extended families in urban areas, the agency said, but such options are rapidly diminishing.
Military statements issued Saturday reported 15 militants killed in helicopter attacks in the Swat Valley district capital, Mingora, and as many as 40 militants killed in other parts of the district, news agencies said. Those claims — and the military’s overall count of more than 140 slain insurgents — are impossible to verify independently, given that aid agencies and journalists are barred from the conflict areas.
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Labels: Army Operation, Pakistan, Swat, Taliban, Terrorism
posted @ 7:44 PM,
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