MINGORA/ISLAMABAD Security forces claimed on Wednesday to have secured 70 per cent of Mingora town after fierce clashes which left 286 militants and seven soldiers dead. Eight soldiers and 25 militants were injured in the fighting.
Brig Tahir Hameed, the incharge of operation Rah-i-Raast in Mingora, told reporters that militants would be wiped out from the city within a few days.
'It is now a matter of days, not weeks, to secure the town,' he added.
A group of journalists was taken to Mingora for the first time since the operation was launched earlier this month.
The town of over 300,000 people, once a hub of tourists, was as silent as a graveyard because of curfew and massive displacement. Helicopters were hovering and security forces were guarding main intersections.
Markets wore a deserted look with many buildings and shops carrying marks of shells and bullets, showing intensity of the fighting. Hotels and shops were also targeted.
Residents stranded in Mingora because of curfew said they had been facing a severe shortage of food and medicines.
An old woman, Bakhti Jan, said that she could not leave the place because her husband was seriously ill. 'We are facing scarcity of eatables and medicines,' she said.
Another resident, Altaf, said the people had been braving food and medicine shortage. He said no doctor was present in hospitals. 'There are no electricity and telephone services.'
Brig Tahir said that militants, numbering between 1,000 and 1,500, had fled to other areas, shaving their beards off. Troops found a cache of weapons during search operations in Mingora.
He accused the militants of looting banks and shops besides being involved in kidnappings and killings.
Security forces had adopted a three-pronged strategy to flush out militants, according to military official.
'In the first stage, the security forces conduct surgical strikes and then encircle the militants. In the final stage the target is eliminated to clear and secure the area,' he said.
Troops had foiled two suicide attacks on May 8 and May 10 when they hit the bombers before they could hit the target.
He said the terrorists were on the run now and soon the entire city would be secured.
Witnesses said that troops took control of hilltops around Mingora and were firing artillery to flush out militants from suburbs of the city. The entire city reverberated with artillery and tank shelling throughout the day.
FOUR SOLDIERS KILLED Four military personnel were killed and six others injured when a convoy was attacked with an improvised explosive device in the Kota area on Wednesday.
Sources said that the convoy was on its way to Mingora when it came under attack. The injured were taken to a hospital.
Security forces had claimed to have cleared the Kota area of Taliban two weeks ago.
ISPR BRIEFING Security forces had made significant gains in Mingora and were close to eliminating resistance, the ISPR chief told a briefing in Islamabad on Wednesday.
'The security forces are most likely to gain complete control of the city in the next two days,' military spokesman Maj-Gen Athar Abbas told Dawn. He, however, said the return of internally displaced people (IDPs) depended on restoration of electricity, water and other services.
He said considerable progress had been made in Mingora town and house-to-house search was in progress in most areas. He said during search operations eight terrorists were arrested from Nishtar Chowk.
He said many truckloads of relief goods had reached the besieged people in all areas affected by the operation and efforts were afoot to address food shortage.
He confirmed that incidents of snatching of relief items by the Taliban took place in some areas.
He said 12 terrorists were killed in various areas of Swat during an exchange of fire with security forces on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, while one soldier laid down his life and three were injured.
Asked to comment on reports that Sufi Muhammad, head of an outlawed militant outfit, had been killed in an air strike, the spokesman said 'Not to my knowledge'.
Gen Abbas said that security forces had continued cordon and search operations, destroying strongholds of terrorists in Peochar. During a clash there with insurgents, two soldiers were injured.
He said that Kanju-Kabal road had been cleared and intense fighting was continuing for securing Kabal. A vehicle driven by a would-be suicide bomber was destroyed near the Shamozai Bridge.
Security forces had secured their positions in Madyan, Bagh Derai and Kala Kot, Sakhra valley and important heights west of Fathepur.
An important Taliban commander, Irfanullah, was killed on Tuesday during the operation in Maalam Jabba. Bodies of three terrorists and a huge cache of arms were recovered while a soldier died in the area during clashes.
He said that the Taliban had regrouped in Mohmand Agency, which had now been cleared of terrorists. All IDPs of the Mohmand Agency could go back, Gen Abbas added.
About Buner, the military spokesman said the area up to Sultanwas had been cleared of insurgents and IDPs could return up to Sultanwas.
Asked if an operation in Pir Baba was being planned, he said that locals were raising a lashkar and would launch an attempt to flush out terrorists on their own. He said that security forces would launch an operation, if the move did not work.
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