Pakistani helicopter gunships and war planes hit Taliban positions in the militants’ Swat valley bastion yesterday, but a curfew prevented civilians from fleeing the fighting.
The struggle in the northwestern valley 130km from Islamabad has become a test of Pakistan’s resolve to fight a growing Taliban insurgency that has alarmed the US and other Western countries.
The military said up to 55 militants were killed in the day’s clashes and four soldiers were wounded. The figures could not be independently confirmed.
PHOTO: AP
Fighting had already picked up earlier in the week, triggering a civilian exodus from the battle zones in recent days, but concerns are growing about the fate of those still trapped and unable to move because of a curfew.
“We are feeling so helpless, we want to go but can’t as there is a curfew,” Sallahudin Khan said by telephone from Mingora, Swat’s main town.
“We tried to leave yesterday after authorities relaxed the curfew for a few hours, but couldn’t as the main road leading out of Mingora was literally jammed with the flood of fleeing people,” he said as gunship fire boomed in the background.
Helicopters and warplanes targeted militant hideouts in Mingora and other areas in Swat, military officials said. Militants fired rockets at an army base in Mingora.
The UN refugee agency has said a “massive displacement” is underway. Citing provincial government estimates, it said on Friday up to 200,000 people had left their homes over recent days, with a further 300,000 on the move or about to move.
They join 555,000 people displaced from other areas because of fighting since August, the agency said.
Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani told a news conference the government would seek international help for the displaced people.
He also said the military would do its best to avoid hurting civilians.
“This is not a normal war. This is a guerrilla war. But it is our resolve, it is the resolve of the army, that there should be minimum collateral damage,” he said.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from