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| Pak troops step up attacks on Taliban | |
| Pres Trust of India / Islamabad May 26, 2009, 19:50 IST | |
Pushing hard and deeper into the Taliban-infested Swat Valley, Pakistani troops today claimed to have wrested 70 per cent of Mingora, Swat's main town, including its airport after fierce battle with militants that left 29 insurgents dead.
The army also launched a simultaneous pincer movement on Kabel town, located west of Mingora, where many Talibans from the district capital were fleeing to and were almost on the town's periphery.
Helicopter gunships also attacked Taliban positions in the South Waziristan region on the Afghanistan border, killing six militants, as media reports said that troops were massing up for what could be a push into the terrorists-infested region, long suspected to be the hideouts of the al-Qaeda top brass, including Osama bin Laden, world's most wanted terrorists.
South Waziristan is the headquarters of Pakistani Taliban leaders Baitullah Mehsud. The army sent in the gunships after militants fired rockets at a military base in Sibaltoi town, 60-km east of Waziristan's main town Wana.
As the army offensive in Swat entered the fifth day today, Pakistan military said it would not halt its drive against the Taliban despite a pledge by the militants to stop attacking security forces so as not to harm the civilians.
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