PESHAWAR Pakistan's military said Tuesday they were locked in fierce street battles with Taliban fighters in the Malakand region, where a rights group accused both sides of killing civilians, AFP reports.
Military officials said government forces were advancing on several fronts towards Mingora, the Taliban-held main town in the Swat valley.
The blistering offensive against militants has concentrated increasingly on the valley in what the government calls a mission to 'eliminate' militants.
The military said there were fierce clashes in the Taliban-held town of Matta as well as in Kanju, which is a short distance from Mingora, with four soldiers and 14 insurgents killed in the two towns.
Footage broadcast on a private Pakistani television channel showed armed soldiers standing outside locked shops in the main bazaar in Matta, a bastion of Mullah Fazlullah who has led a two-year uprising to enforce Islamic law.
'Troops continue to close in on Mingora, from where Taliban are trying to escape but our strategy is not to let them flee,' a security official said.
He said the chief objective in coming days was 'to take over the Taliban's main headquarters in Peochar,' where commandos opened a new front last week.
Intense battles were also reported in Takhta Bund, described as the main Taliban supply route.
Authorities say more than 1,030 militants and at least 53 troops have been killed in a three-pronged onslaught launched in the districts of Lower Dir on April 26, Buner on April 28 and Swat on May 8.
But Pakistani commentators praised the military for moving into towns, warning operations would be deadly but were vital for the military to really flush out Taliban strongholds.
'This is the first time the army is doing something like this against Taliban militants,' defence and political analyst Talat Masood told AFP.
'Even US troops never engaged in street battles in Afghanistan... Obviously there will be more casualties when you face the enemy frontally. Here you are very close to the enemy and directly in their firing range.'
'The militants do not want to abandon their strongholds.'
