US hails operation as appropriate response
Pakistani troops backed by war planes launched a new operation in Buner town near the Swat valley Tuesday, as Islamabad intensified its efforts to flush out Taliban fighters there.
The latest operation by the Pakistani military follows an offensive mounted in nearby Lower Dir over the weekend that swelled the number of people displaced by fighting in northwest Pakistan, prompting calls for humanitarian help by local officials and aid workers.
"The army and the Frontier Corps troops have entered Buner," chief military spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas told a news conference, adding that fighter jets were also being used.
A senior military official earlier told AFP that war planes were pounding suspected militant hideouts on the mountains overlooking the town, but he had no casualty figures.
US support
The United States, which has put Pakistan at the heart of the battle against terrorism and al-Qaeda, hailed the military operations as "exactly the appropriate response" to halt the Taliban’s progress, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said.
"We are encouraging of these efforts," Morrell said. "We hope they can sustain these operations."
The United States has been pushing for Islamabad to crack down on the Taliban, insisting that Islamist extremists, historically supported by Pakistani intelligence, pose the greatest threat to the nuclear-armed country and not arch rival India.
The offensive mounted in Lower Dir, in which 70-75 militants and 10 security personnel died, has now been completed, Abbas said.
The major general said that while there were no foreign militants in Swat, intelligence reports said that "militants are getting weapons and communication equipment from outside Pakistan."
"They are using Kalashnikovs, small arms, rocket launchers, grenades, mines and explosives."
Residents in Buner said they heard bombs exploding in Karahar and Babaji Kandao, located between the districts of Swat and Buner
More British casualties
Meanwhile, in neighboring Afghanistan a British soldier was killed in an explosion in the south of the country, U.K. Ministry of Defense reported on Tuesday.
The soldier, from the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, was killed while on foot patrol alongside the Afghan National Army near the Forward Operating Base Keenan, north east of Gereshk, in Helmand province.
More than 150 members of the British armed forces have died in Afghanistan since late 2001
Britain has more than 8,000 troops based in Afghanistan, the vast majority serving in Helmand, a desert province that remains a heartland of the Taliban-led insurgency.