Pakistani security forces killed at least 40 Taliban militants when they repelled an attack on a paramilitary camp in the South Waziristan region on the Afghan border overnight, intelligence officials said today.
"Militants came in force and attacked a paramilitary camp and fighting lasted for eight hours. At least 40 militants were killed while four soldiers died," said an intelligence official in the region.
Another security agency official put the militant toll even higher. There was no independent confirmation of the casualty estimates.
Pakistani forces said yesterday they regained full control of Mingora, a week after re-entering the main town in the Swat valley to dislodge thousands of Taliban fighters.
Recapturing the town would raise the prospect that some of more than 2 million people who have fled the conflict zone could soon begin to go home, alleviating a humanitarian crisis.
"It's very good that Mingora city has come under the full control of the security forces," military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas told a news conference.
He said medical teams and food supplies had arrived in the town, which had been cut off since the start of themonth.
Gas supplies were restored, but the electricity grid needed to be repaired.
"It will take at least two weeks to restore amenities," General Abbas said.
Around 300,000 people had lived in Mingora until the Taliban occupied the town in early May when the army first launched an offensive in Swat.
The security forces have secured an area of up to 70 km (44 miles) north of Mingora, including the town of Bahrain, he said.
He said shortly before the news conference that some militants were still putting up resistance on Mingora's outskirts.
The army said 1,217 militants had been killed since the fighting began in late April, while 81 soldiers had been killed, and 250 wounded. There are no independent casualty estimates available.
The mass exodus from the valley and the neighbouring regions of Lower Dir and Buner, where fighting had broken out in mid-April, prompted UN warnings of a long-term humanitarian crisis.
The United Nations has pleaded for international support for a $543 million fund to help Pakistan cope. Almost 90 per cent of the displaced people have been offered shelter by families in neighbouring peaceful areas, while the rest have headed for the camps that have sprung up around towns like Mardan and Swabi.
There are fears of disease breaking out as summer temperatures soar on the plains below the mountains of the northwest.
The army had initially estimated the militants had around 5,000 men in Swat, but later said there were only up to 2,000 hardcore fighters. Some 15,000 troops, backed by artillery and air power, were taking part in the offensive, according to the military.
The government first ordered the army into action after Taliban fighters moved south from their stronghold in Swat into Buner, a valley just 100 km from Islamabad.
Islamist militants have carried out a series of bomb and gun attacks in Pakistani cities during the last few days, in a bid to take the heat off their comrades retreating in Swat.
The military had sealed most routes into Swat, cutting supply lines and reinforcements for the militants, who have begun fleeing north over the mountains into Kalam valley, where troops were being deployed to meet them.
Reuters