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Army secures Mingora

ISLAMABAD: Security forces battling Taliban in Pakistan’s Swat valley in the North-West Frontier Province have secured Mingora, the main town in the region, said the military spokesman on Saturday.

The announcement is sure to raise hopes of an early return home among the hundreds of thousands of people who had to flee the town in recent weeks as the military launched Operation Rah-e-Rast against the Swat Taliban last month.

But military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas, addressing a press conference here, cautioned that the military operation was the first part of a process that would include restoration of the civil administration and the destroyed services in the city such as water and power before the return of the displaced.

Fighting continues in other parts of Swat.

The spokesman said 28 militants, including two commanders, were killed since Friday in battles at various places, while one soldier was killed.

Major-General Abbas said arms recovered from militant hide-outs in Swat carried American, Russian and Indian markings.

However, Information Minister Qamaruzzaman Karia, who was also present at the briefing, hastened to add that foreign intelligence agencies would not leave their calling cards all over the place, and cautioned against forming “perceptions” from this information.

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