Pakistan army closes in on key town

Pakistani government forces have encircled a key town in the Swat valley as the 21-day offensive against the Taliban in the region continued, the military said.The push towards Mingora on Saturday came a day after the military lifted a curfew on the town, allowing thousands of residents to join more than one million people who had already fled their homes."The security forces are closing in from different directions and have been able to inflict many more casualties," Major-General Athar Abbas, a military spokesman, said on Friday."Security forces are getting close to Mingora city. The aim is to isolate and block the movement of fleeing terrorists."