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Thousands flee as Pakistani jets hit Swat
Thu May 7, 2009 3:18am EDT
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By Junaid Khan
MINGORA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Thousands of people took advantage of a break in a curfew in Pakistan's Swat valley Thursday to get out of the region as government aircraft attacked Taliban positions.
The government's handling of Swat has become a test of its resolve to fight a growing Taliban militant insurgency. President Asif Ali Zardari assured U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington Wednesday of Islamabad's commitment to defeating al Qaeda and its allies.
A February peace pact aimed at ending Taliban violence in Swat has collapsed and Wednesday the military launched assaults in the outskirts of the region's main town of Mingora.
"We can't stay here when bombs are falling all around," said resident Mohammad Hayat Khan as he loaded his family of 14 onto a pick-up truck. He said there had been shelling near his home.
Many other people were heading out of Mingora on foot, loaded up with whatever they could carry.
Authorities agreed in February to a Taliban demand for the introduction of Islamic sharia law in the former tourist valley but the militants have refused to disarm and pushed out of the valley into neighboring districts.
The aggression raised alarm in the United States and led to accusations the government was capitulating to the militants.
Security forces launched an offensive on April 26 to expel militants from two of Swat's neighboring districts, Dir and Buner, and security has deteriorated sharply in Swat since then.
Zardari met Obama and Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai in Washington Wednesday. Obama later said both men "fully appreciate the seriousness of the threat" posed by al Qaeda and their allies.
"The road ahead will be difficult. There will be more violence and there will be setbacks," Obama said, with Karzai and Zardari at his side at the White House.
"But let me be clear -- the United States has made a lasting commitment to defeat al Qaeda but also to support the democratically elected sovereign governments of both Pakistan and Afghanistan."
CLERIC'S SON "KILLED"
Pakistani security forces said at least 64 militants were killed in Swat and the nearby Buner district in fighting on Wednesday. Two soldiers were also killed.
A Taliban spokesman said more than 30 civilians had been killed in Swat.
There was no independent confirmation of either side's tolls. Continued...
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