Islamabad, July 21: Pakistani security forces killed more than 50 Islamic militants in two days of pre-emptive strikes in the north-western district of Lower Dir, officials said Tuesday. The ground operation involving troops backed by artillery, tanks and mortar fire took place Sunday and Monday in several villages in the Maidan area, where the insurgents had been occasionally attacking security checkpoints manned by paramilitary troops.
“According to a fair estimate, over 50 militants were killed and dozens more wounded,” a spokesman for the Frontier Corps paramilitary force said by phone. “Three troops also died in the fighting.”
The casualties could not be confirmed independently because of restrictions imposed on local journalists.
Many of those killed were Taliban militants who fled to the district from the adjoining Swat region, where a government offensive is under way 140 kilometers north-west of Islamabad, the spokesman said.
The military said it is close to completing its offensive in Swat, where it said more than 1,700 Taliban fighters have been killed in nearly three months of fighting.
Although large parts of Swat, a former tourist destination, have been cleared of the militants, most of the Taliban leaders are believed to have gone into hiding in its remote mountain areas and nearby districts.
–Agencies