Troops in final push against Swat's Taliban-held main city

Pakistani military jets and helicopters struck Taliban targets in a final push toward the Swat valley's main city of Mingora. Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani told a multi-party conference on Monday that operations were "progressing successfully".Pakistani jets and helicopters on Monday bombarded militant targets in Swat, where troops entered strategic towns in a pincer thrust towards the Taliban-held capital of the northwest valley.Pakistan's deadly offensive against Taliban fighters entered a fourth week Monday with troops battling on three fronts in the districts of Lower Dir, Buner and Swat where more than 1.1 million people have been displaced.Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani convened a cross-party conference in Islamabad, reiterating calls for the Taliban to disarm in what he has called a fight to "eliminate" Islamist militants threatening the nation's sovereignty."The operation against the terrorists is progressing successfully," Gilani told the conference. "Success in the war against terrorists guarantees protection and security to our future generations."Fighter jets and attack helicopters pounded militant hideouts and supply lines in Swat, once a tourist destination popular with Westerners until two years ago, when it was plunged into a Taliban insurgency to enforce sharia law.The military says its troops are closing in on Mingora, the capital of Swat under Taliban control, and have issued a map showing security forces in a pincer movement of troops pushing down from the north and up from the south.Pakistan said Sunday that ground troops had moved into the Taliban-held towns of Kanju, two kilometres (one mile) from Mingora, and Matta, further to the north, where officials said operations were "in progress".One military official in the region said helicopters were shelling suspected militant hideouts in the Fizaghat area, four kilometres (two miles) northeast of Mingora, indicating that troops were closing in on the Swat capital.Another security official confirmed shelling against militants in Peochar and Takhta Bund, which he described as the main supply route for Taliban fighters holed up in Mingora.Pakistani authorities say more than 1,000 militants and at least 46 soldiers have been killed in a three-pronged onslaught launched in the northwest districts of Lower Dir on April 26, Buner on April 28 and Swat on May 8.