‘Scores of Taliban’ die in fighting

Pakistan says troops closing in on Swat’s main town as they target fighters’ hideouts.

idp camp pakistan swabi
Thousands of displaced people are facing an uncertain future in refugee camps [AFP]

The military has released a video showing the bombing of what it calls Taliban targets.

‘Overwhelming’ refugee crisis

At least 834,000 civilians from the Swat and Buner districts are registered as displaced persons with the United Nations after leaving their homes to escape the fighting.

Antonio Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, told Al Jazeera that the scale of the refugee crisis is overwhelming.

“Pakistan has no capacity to deal with these people and to provide them with the basic needs they require. The Pakistani people are in need of massive humanitarian support from the international community,” he said from the Swabi refugee camp on Thursday.

“If you look at the movement [of people from the war zone], it is indeed the biggest movement in present times. Massive humanitarian support is required or else there will be a humanitarian disaster.”

Buner ’emptied’

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Wednesday that it had entered Buner, one of the NWFP districts most affected by the conflict.

“You can see the scars of recent fighting,” Bart Janssens, the ICRC’s health co-ordinator in Pakistan, said.

In depth

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undefined Video: Pakistan’s sovereign fight
undefined The fight for northwest Pakistan
undefined Riz Khan: Obama’s ‘AfPak’ strategy
undefined Riz Khan: The battle for the soul of Pakistan
undefined Q&A: The struggle for Swat
undefined Talking to the Taliban
undefined Pakistan’s war
undefined Pakistan diary
undefined Your views: Crisis in Swat

“There is no more electricity or clean drinking water. Most shops are closed. Goods on the market are scarce. The streets feel empty. The district is rapidly being emptied of its inhabitants.”

The Pakistani military has up to 15,000 troops in place against about 4,000 Taliban fighters in the northwest of the country.

At least 750 suspected Taliban fighters and 33 troops have died in military operations in Lower Dir, Buner and Swat since April 26th, the military says.

The military onslaught comes after increasing pressure by the US government to take a stronger line against the Taliban.

The Taliban on Wednesday issued an ultimatum to provincial leaders in Pakistan, with a spokesman for the group telling Al Jazeera that the officials must resign or else their families would be targeted.

Drone co-operation

The US military has confirmed newspaper reports that it had shared with Islamabad surveillance data from drones flying over Pakistani territory.

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, confirmed at a US senate hearing that Pakistan had requested surveillance support missions.

“In terms of support and information, they have asked for that, and where they have asked for that, we’ve supported them,” Mullen told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday.

“Those requests have ceased over the period of about the last month.”

The New York Times had earlier reported that the US military had shared intelligence data from drones with the Pakistani military.

Mullen said the newspaper report was an “accurate portrayal” of co-operation between Washington and Islamabad.

Pakistani denial

But the Pakistani military has strongly denied that it is co-operating with US forces in the deployment of the drones.

Pakistan has in recent months stated its opposition to US drone overflights. Bombs launched from drones have been responsible for the deaths of at least 390 people in Pakistan, many of them civilians, since August 2008.

Islamabad has called the drone flights and bombing runs a violation of its territorial sovereignty.

Asif Ali Zardari, the Pakistani president, said on Wednesday that he had asked Washington for “ownership” of US drones carrying out attacks on its territory.

Islamabad was “negotiating terms” with Washington over the use of the drones, he said, after talks with Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, in London.

Source: Al Jazeera, News Agencies