Pakistani troops remained locked in battles with Taliban militants in the northwest Monday, as the military warned it could take up to 10 days to wrest back control of Swat valley's capital.Ground forces are fighting street-by-street with Taliban fighters in Mingora, the business and administrative hub of the scenic Swat region which has been ripped apart by a two-year insurgency by the extremists.‘It may take seven to 10 days to clear Mingora town of militants,’ military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told AFP.‘The operation may be a little slow to avoid civilian casualties, damage and destruction to property. There are also improvised explosive devices (IEDs) planted in Mingora, and we have to clear these IEDs as well.’Security forces have said a number of key squares and intersections in Mingora are now under their control, as the more than four-week-long offensive against the Taliban in the northwest enters a crucial phase.A military official who did not want to be named said that six militants died overnight in Kabal town about 20 kilometres west of Mingora.‘They were trying to plant a bomb outside a mosque but it exploded on them,’ the official told AFP. ‘The dead bodies of six armed militants are still lying near the mosque.’He said Pakistan's security forces were still battling on the streets of Mingora, which has seen Taliban fighters armed with guns and rocket launchers patrol the streets in the past weeks, according to residents who fled.‘Militants are retreating from different fronts but we are still receiving fire from some pockets of resistance,’ the official said.Another security official said: ‘Militants are on the run, their dead bodies are lying in streets.’Although the military has bases inside Mingora, the town has been under effective Taliban control for weeks.Helicopter gunships also shelled militant hideouts in Peochar and Malam Jabba — mountainous areas northwest of Mingora which are Taliban bastions.
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