Pakistan's military said Saturday a full-scale offensive in the northwest has put militants on the back foot following a pledge from President Asif Ali Zardari to eliminate the TalEban. Warplanes pounded rebel hideouts in the Swat valley, an ex-ski resort where up to 15,000 security forces have been deployed under orders to crush extremists in an escalating conflict that has displaced hundreds of thousands. “They are on the run,” the army said in a statement, without making clear exactly how much progress it had made in driving militants from their positions. But the statement added that Taleban fighters were “trying to block the exodus of innocent civilians by preventing their departure through coercion, IEDs (improvised explosive devices), road blocks with trees and even (making them) hostages”. Meanwhile, a suspected US drone fired missiles at a compound used by militants in South Waziristan tribal district bordering Afghanistan, killing six militants and injuring 10 others, officials said. The army said its troops have killed as many as 55 more Taleban fighters in its offensive to retake the valley. An army statement said helicopter gunships attacked militant hideouts in Mingora, the main town in the Swat Valley, and killed 15 enemy fighters. It says an estimated 30 to 40 more died in clashes in more than a half-dozen other locations Saturday. The military said Friday an air and ground offensive to crush the Taleban in the northwest killed more than 143 militants. It was impossible to confirm the death tolls independently, given ongoing operations across three districts which began late last month when the hardline insurgents advanced to within 100 km of Islamabad. Meanwhile, fresh troops were entering the Malakand district which neighbors Swat valley, a local military official said.
