Islamabad - Pakistani troops overran an important militant stronghold in north-western district of Buner, killing some 80 Taliban fighters, an army spokesman said Wednesday. "Security forces have cleared Sultan Was area last night after intense clashes," Major General Athar Abbas told the reporters in Islamabad.
"Reportedly, 80 miscreants, terrorists were killed," he said.
The government forces, backed by helicopter gunships and jets, launched a major offensive against Taliban in Buner on April 28, days after insurgents raided the district from the adjoining Swat valley, occupied the state-buildings and forced civilians to follow their strict, Taliban-style Islamic laws.
Abbas said the militants were using vehicles and black uniforms of the elite police forces. Six such vehicles were destroyed in Sultan Was fighting.
Security forces defused seven Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and destroyed concrete underground bunkers and ammunition dumps. One soldier died and nine were critically wounded.
Bloody clashes between Taliban and the troops continued in Swat, where the rebels still hold control of the main town Mingora.
One soldier was killed and six injured during a "clearance operation" in Takhtaband village of the scenic valley, where a full-scale operation was launched early this month after a peace deal collapsed.
The fighting in Malakand region, where both Swat and Buner belong, had triggered a mass exodus.
The United Nations refugee agency said on Monday that more than 1.5 million people had abandoned their homes just this month and joined another 550,000 who had been registered since last August.
"There are believed to be many thousands more who are currently unregistered but need urgent help," the agency said in a statement released in Islamabad.
Media reports and human rights groups have claimed the civilians who are caught in cross-fire were suffering heavy casualties, though the losses were not confirmed by Pakistani officials.
An international advocacy group condemned Wednesday the use of landmines by Taliban fighters, saying they would endanger civilians trying to flee combat in Swat valley.
The International Campaign to Ban Landmines, which was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 1997, said the laying of landmines posed both an immediate risk as well as a latent one.
