Dozens killed as Pakistan troops battle Taliban

[March 19, 2010]  ISLAMABAD (AP) -- Government troops sought to drive stubborn Taliban militants from a district near the Pakistani capital after unleashing airstrikes that killed more than 50 enemy fighters, the military said.

One member of the security forces also died and more than 50 others were abducted amid escalating clashes in the Buner region, the top military spokesman said.

Pakistan is acting under intense U.S. pressure to take a tougher line against Islamist militants expanding from strongholds along the Afghan border, where al-Qaida leaders including Osama bin Laden may also be hiding.

In recent days, government forces have begun trying to drive the Taliban back into the Swat Valley, from where they had pushed out under cover of a much-criticized peace pact.

Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said troops were pushing into Buner, a once-peaceful farming region in the northwest, from three directions and had faced stiff resistance.

Militants detonated three roadside bombs on one of the routes. In all, three troops were injured, he said.

After warplanes carried out airstrikes late Tuesday, attack helicopters engaged "miscreants" and killed more than 50 of them, Abbas said at a news conference in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, just south of Islamabad.

Militants had seized three police stations on Tuesday seized 70 police and paramilitary troops, he said. Eighteen of the troops were "recovered" on Wednesday.

Abbas provided few other details.

Security forces prevented some reporters from entering the area and telephone services were interrupted, making it hard to verify the army's account of the fighting.

The Taliban advance into Buner brought them to within 60 miles (100 kilometers) of the capital, Islamabad. The army also says troops have killed scores of militants in recent fighting in Lower Dir, another area neighboring Swat.

Both lie within Malakand, the region covered by the government's much-criticized peace deal. Officials agreed to impose Islamic law in return for peace in a region devastated by two years of bloody fighting.

Pakistani officials said the Islamic law concession robbed the militants of any justification for retaining their arms and have insisted they were ready to use force against militants who defy the government.

But officials in Washington, which is propping up Pakistan's army and government with billions of dollars, have slammed the pact as a surrender and welcomed the resumption of military action.

[Associated Press; By MUNIR AHMAD]

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