Mingora to be cleared of Taliban within three days

Swat valley

Pakistan vowed Wednesday to wipe out the Taliban from Swat’s main town of Mingora within three days, as fierce fighting raged during a month-long offensive to crush the insurgents. Around 2.4 million people have fled fighting as soldiers struggle to wrest back the northwest Swat and two nearby districts from the Taliban, who advanced last month to within 100 kilometres of Islamabad.The military said 12 suspected militants and one soldier were killed in the last 24 hours in the Swat valley, where a two-year Taliban uprising had crushed the tourism industry and effectively imposed sharia law.In Mingora, the military said troops carried out house-to-house searches, while clashes in the area left eight insurgents dead.‘Mingora city will be cleared of militants in next 2-3 days,’ it announced in a daily briefing update on the offensive.Security officials said earlier that two soldiers were killed when a roadside bomb hit their vehicle near Mingora.Clashes also rocked Kabal and Kanju towns, within 25 kilometres of Mingora, a security official told AFP.‘Severe fighting is continuing in Kabal town. Militants are resisting in various parts of town,’ he said.‘It was a little bit calm in Mingora. There are reports of firing but militants are retreating from different parts of the city. Troops are busy clearing roads and streets of mines and bombs.’The military says around 1,200 militants and 76 soldiers have died in the onslaught, launched in the districts of Lower Dir on April 26, Buner on April 28 and Swat on May 8, but those tolls cannot be confirmed independently.