11 security troops, 17 militants dead in Swat clashes

CNews SWAT: Estranged conditions continued to prevail in Swat, as at least 17 militants and 11 law-enforcers were killed and more than 35 others were injured on the third consecutive day of the clashes between the defiant Taliban and the security forces here on SundayUnconfirmed reports, however, said that 20 personnel of law-enforcing agencies had been killed in a reported suicide bombing in Sangota. The clashes left about 55 persons injured, two of them Islamabad-based journalists, 14 security personnel, 20 militants and 19 civilians, including women and children.The injured media persons were identified as Khalid Jameel and Reza Agha of a private television channel, who sustained injuries when a wall of a mosque fell on them after being hit by a mortar shell.There were conflicting claims from both the sides as the top military spokesman Maj Gen Waheed Arshad put the death toll of the militants at 50-60. “The report about the casualties is based on intercepted messages of the local militants,” he claimed.Nevertheless, he had no information about the fatalities suffered by the security forces. “I can’t give you an exact figure of the casualties from the security forces because the Army is not directly involved in the operation. We have provided them only gunship helicopters,” Maj Gen Waheed, who is the director general of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), said.Meanwhile, the NWFP Home Secretary Badshah Gul Wazir, when contacted on phone, said 10 militants had been killed while four soldiers, two each from the Frontier Constabulary and the Frontier Corps, were injured in clashes in the militancy-plagued region. He said that the injured had been rushed to the Saidu Group of Hospitals.On the other hand, Sirajuddin, a purported spokesman of the local Taliban and military commander of the rebels, said no one was killed from their side while one Talib had sustained minor injuries in the shootout.He went on to claim that 20 security personnel were killed in a suicide attack in Sangota area of Swat district. Giving details of the incident, he said: “The local Taliban had besieged a compound, accommodating security forces who called their colleagues to rescue them. When they tried to reach the besieged building, one of our colleagues launched a suicide attack on them, killing 20 security personnel on the spot.”He added that the death toll in the suicide bombing would rise, adding that most of the injured were in critical condition.Talking to Geo News at his hujra in Imam Dherai, Sirajuddin also claimed having blown up a police post in Manglawar on the Malam Jabba Road. He said that the mayhem in the region was the repercussion of the bloodshed at Jamia Hafsa and Lal Masjid in Islamabad.Residents of Allahabad village in Charbagh told Geo News on telephone to have seen several bodies of the slain security personnel lying on the road.The gunships of Pakistan Army continued pounding the hideouts of militants in Manglawar, Kot, Dherai, Bandai and Imam Dherai.Also, troops fired some 150 mortar shells from the FC camp and the Police Lines, killing dozens of people besides damaging over 80 houses, majority of them deserted with inmates having shifted to safer places downtown.A visit to the troubled region revealed that most of the locals had started migrating to safer places. Some of them blamed both the militants and the government for the escalated tension in the picturesque Swat valley.“Why didn’t the government initiate action against Mulla Fazlullah when he was mustering armed and financial support from the locals,” an irate local told Geo News.“Fazlullah and the present government are the two sides of the same coin as the latter is exploiting the situation to perpetuate its rule in the country,” he added.He hastened to add that Maulana Fazlullah could not flee his hideout “rather it was the government which provided him a safe exit for vested interests.”A senior journalist, accompanying this scribe, compared the situation in Swat with the once war-torn Afghanistan during civil war after seeing the check-posts, manned by well-armed militants on the other side of the bridge, linking Saidu Sharif to Imam Dherai.Meanwhile, the ISPR has denied the Army has joined the ongoing operations against the militants in Swat.A spokesman of the ISPR while referring to a report published in Geo News on Sunday said in a press release that Frontier Corps troops and police were maintaining the law and order in the area and Army troops were not participating in the operation.Official sources said that the Frontier Corps and the police had secured and driven the militants out of Fiza Ghat area up to Manglawar.“Helicopters are being used for surveillance of the area. The law and order situation in other areas of Swat is normal,” they maintained.The military spokesman accused the militants of terrorising and killing villagers in the region.“We needed to take tough action against a handful of these extremists who are trying to defy the government’s writ and terrorise the local people,” he said.Security forces have entered Manglawar village, 10 kilometres northeast of Mingora, Major General Waheed said.“They are operating to establish the writ of the government in areas where miscreants have threatened public peace and order. The security forces have extended their positions,” he said.Troops were consolidating their ground in Manglawar after raids by gunship helicopters, a French news agency correspondent in the region witnessed.Maulana Fazlullah has moved from his headquarters in the village of Imam Dherai to safety, but a spokesman for the cleric insisted that he was still in the area. “We are still in touch with him,” Sirajuddin said.