Pakistani troops have retaken the largest town in the Swat Valley from the Taliban as the army presses its offensive against militants in the country's northwest, the army spokesman said Saturday, AP reported. Government forces had full control of Mingora, though they were still meeting pockets of resistance from fighters on the outskirts of the town, Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said. Abbas said many militants had fled the town instead of confronting troops in a final battle, despite the military saying earlier that escape routes had been closed. «They had prepared Mingora city ... with bunkers, but when they realized that they were being encircled and the noose was tightening they decided not to give a pitched battle,» Abbas said. The military launched a major offensive one month ago in the Swat Valley and neighboring areas to oust Taliban militants who were extending their control over the northwestern region, near the border with Afghanistan. The campaign is strongly backed by Washington and the government's other Western allies, who see it as a test of the government's resolve to fight extremism in the Pakistan. Government troops had been advancing steadily into the Swat region, bombarding towns from the air and fighting house-to-house with Taliban gunmen. The fighting has caused more than 2 million people to flee the region, raising fears of a humanitarian crisis.
