PAKISTANI TROOPS and Taliban fighters battled street by street through Mingora, the main town of the Swat valley, yesterday as an army operation to sweep the militants from their mountain stronghold entered a critical phase.
Smoke rose from the city as the army reported early victories, saying it had captured seven major locations including Green Square, previously dubbed “slaughterhouse square” by locals after the Taliban started to dump the bodies of headless victims there.
Following on from more than two weeks of air and artillery strikes, it was the second day of a ground assault on the city, which the army warned could take weeks to complete. “Everyone is sniping one another,” a spokesman, Maj Gen Athar Abbas, said on Saturday.
Fears grew for civilians trapped in the crossfire. Government officials estimate between 10,000 and 20,000 people still live in the hill town, which until recently had a population of about 200,000.
With food and fuel rations dwindling, some have resorted to scavenging for food during lulls in fighting. Yesterday the army used FM radio to urge residents to report Taliban movements, even though phone lines to the city have been cut.
Last week, residents of some districts said the Taliban had said they would be killed if they obeyed army orders to flee.
The fight for Mingora has become a test of Pakistan’s resolve and ability to roll back the Taliban advance across North-West Frontier province and the adjoining tribal belt that has worried western allies.
For three weeks the Taliban has been preparing for a battle in Mingora, setting up rooftop gun positions and laying landmines at roads and bridges. Until now the war against militancy has been largely limited to remote, mountainous areas.
Yesterday the army said it had captured Qamber, a hamlet at the entrance to Mingora and the home town of Shah Doran, a notorious Taliban commander. A Guardian reporter who visited Qamber last week saw Taliban fighters manning newly dug, heavily defended trenches in mountain slopes 50 metres above the main road.
Yesterday in Barikot, a town 10km to the south, a fleeing Qamber resident said he had seen a destroyed army tank after intense fighting.
So far, however, the casualties have been lighter than expected. The army said yesterday it had killed five militants and captured 14 in 24 hours in Mingora. It also reported three soldiers dead.
Western diplomats in Islamabad believe that army casualty figures from Swat are considerably higher than reported.
The president, Asif Ali Zardari, has indicated the Swat campaign could be the start of a wider summer war against the Taliban in the province. A western official said a new offensive was expected to follow in South Waziristan, home of the Taliban warlord Baitullah Mehsud.
Combat is already spreading across the province. Yesterday army helicopter gunships pounded militant targets in Orakzai tribal agency, west of Peshawar. Meanwhile, in Charsadda, a district south of Swat where many people have fled, police announced the arrest of a Taliban commander and six militants.
In Mingora, it is unclear whether the Taliban will hold firm or flee into the hills. Mingora backs on to mountains that could provide an easy escape route and allow them to regroup for guerrilla attacks.
South of the city, along the river Swat, residents reported seeing Taliban fighters going back and forth across the river.
The army is under pressure for a quick resolution. More than two million people have been displaced over three weeks, placing an immense strain on the areas to which they have fled.
While about 200,000 people are sheltering in organised camps, at least 1.7 million are squeezed into the homes of friends and relatives – as many as 100 people per house. – (Guardian service)