Pakistan - Security

Pakistan offensive could last months: military

Source : AFP 03.06.2009

MINGORA, Pakistan, June 3, 2009 (AFP) - Pakistan's military said in the northwest Swat valley Wednesday that big towns could be won back within days but warned it could take another two months to defeat the Taliban.

"The big cities and big towns will stand clear within three days' time," chief military spokesman Brigadier General Athar Abbas told AFP on a hilltop overlooking Mingora, the main town in Swat which the army says it controls.

Describing the Taliban as an elusive enemy that shied away from pitched battles, Abbas said it "may be another two months when we can say the complete area is fully secured".

A defence ministry official said Sunday the militants were only days away from being defeated across three northwest districts, including Swat, but the army distanced itself from those comments, saying there was no timeframe.

Pakistan has said that more than 1,300 militants and around 85 soldiers have died since the military launched a major air and ground assault in late April.

Major General Ijaz Awan, commander of the Mingora campaign, told journalists on a military visit to the valley that civilians displaced by the fighting might be able to return within two weeks.

Up to 2.4 million people have fled their homes since the offensive began in the districts of Lower Dir on April 26, Buner on April 28 and Swat on May 8.

"Militarily they can bring them back tomorrow," he said referring to those who fled Minora to government-run camps or relatives' homes further south.

Even if the guns have fallen silent in the city, which the military declared Saturday had returned to government control, residents who remain have told AFP there is no electricity, gas and running water in the town.

"By June 17, these services will be put right. Then the gradual, systematic return of IDPs (internally displaced persons) will begin," Awan told reporters.

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